Introduction The ongoing risks of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) are prompting hospitals to seek new methods for reducing cross-contamination. Switching to shorter rolls of medical tapes can provide an important opportunity to decrease cross-contamination, eliminate wasted tape, decrease hospital supply costs and improve the standard of patient care. “... Rolls of tape cannot be decontam...

Many factors have been shown to influence bacterial transfer between surfaces, including surface type, bacterial species, moisture level, pressure, and friction, but the effect of inoculum size on bacterial transfer has not yet been established. Bacterial cross contamination rates during performance of common food service tasks were previously determined in our laboratory using nalidixic acid-r...

A diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) is rarely disputed if Mycobacterium tuberculosis is isolated from a clinical specimen; however, specimen contamination may occur (1-3). Identification of TB strain patterns through molecular typing or DNA fingerprinting is a recent advancement in TB laboratory techniques (3-7). CDC's National Tuberculosis Genotyping and Surveillance Network (NTGSN) performs DNA ...

Utensils and equipment from meat-processing facilities are considered relevant cross-contamination points of Listeria monocytogenes to foods, demanding tracking studies to identify their specific origins, and predict proper control. The present study aimed to detect L. monocytogenes in a beef-processing facility, investigating the diversity of serotypes and pulsotypes in order to identify the p...

Objective: To investigate possible pseudo-outbreak of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) during a two week period July 2-15th 2005, as suggested by an increase in incidence of newly diagnosed patients with tuberculosis. Many of them had negative – smears for AFB and only one positive-MTB culture. Methodology: Retrorespective surveys of all medical and laboratory data using standard epidemiologica...

Cross-contamination between cell lines is a longstanding and frequent cause of scientific misrepresentation. Estimates from national testing services indicate that up to 36% of cell lines are of a different origin or species to that claimed. To test a standard method of cell line authentication, 253 human cell lines from banks and research institutes worldwide were analyzed by short tandem repe...

Intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired infections are a challenging health problem worldwide, especially when caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens. In ICUs, inanimate surfaces and equipment (e.g., bedrails, stethoscopes, medical charts, ultrasound machine) may be contaminated by bacteria, including MDR isolates. Cross-transmission of microorganisms from inanimate surfaces may have a signif...

Background Plastic is convenient, lightweight, unbreakable and relatively inexpensive. However, there are both environmental and health risk from the widespread use of plastics. Bisphenol A, a chemical that mimics the action of the human hormone estrogen, can leach from polycarbonate plastic. Bisphenol A has been found to stimulate prostate cancer cells7 and causes breast tissue changes in mice...

There is a growing recognition of the involvement of the home in several public health and hygiene issues and of the need to promote effective hygiene practices for the home. Hygiene practice in the home includes the categories of personal hygiene, food hygiene, environmental or surface hygiene, and home health care. This article reviews some of the hygiene risks in the home, including the role...

The introduction and widespread application of vitrification are one of the most important achievements in human assisted reproduction techniques (ART) of the past decade despite controversy and unclarified issues, mostly related to concerns about disease transmission. Guidance documents published by US Food and Drug Administration, which focused on the safety of tissue/organ donations during Z...