BACKGROUND:

Non-sterile disposable gloves are used on large hospital wards, however their potential role as a vehicle for pathogen transmission has not been explored in this setting.

AIMS:

This study investigates glove use on a hospital orthopaedic ward to examine whether pathogen contamination occurs prior to contact with patients.

METHOD:

Glove samples were aseptically removed from boxes on a hospital orthopaedic ward on opening and days 3, 6 and 9 thereafter. Following elution of bacteria and viable counts, glove isolates were identified by standard techniques and 16s rDNA sequencing. Methicillin resistance of staphylococci was determined by disc diffusion, Epsilon tests and PCR. Gloves were inoculated to determine two isolate survival rates.

RESULTS:

Total bacterial counts ranged from 0 to 9.6 x 10(3) cfu/glove. Environmental bacteria, particularly Bacillus species, were present on 31/38 (81.6%) of samples. Half (19/38) the samples were contaminated with skin commensals; coagulase negative staphylococci were predominant. Enterococcus faecalis , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Pseudomonas sp. or methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus were recovered from 5/38 (13.2%) of samples. Significantly more skin commensals and pathogens were recovered from samples from days 3, 6, 9 than box-opening samples. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Klebsiella pneumoniae inoculated onto gloves remained viable for several days but counts decreased.

CONCLUSION:

Health care workers introduced skin commensals and pathogenic bacteria into glove boxes indicating that unused, non-sterile gloves are potential pathogen transmission vehicles in hospitals. Findings highlight adherence to handwashing guidelines, common glove retrieval practice, and glove-box design as targets for decreasing bacteria transmission via gloves on hospital wards.