2017 Spring

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/11416/166

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Browsing 2017 Spring by Subject "Bacteria"

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    The Persistence of Staphylococcus Aureus on Hospital Privacy Sarah Coleurtains
    (Florida Southern College, 2017-05) Cole, Sarah
    While healthcare professionals are working in hospitals, they have a tendency of manipulating the curtains during the care of their patients. Current studies have shown that the transfer of bacteria from hands to the curtains and vice versa is possible. Despite the possibility of hospital curtains being a mode of infection transmission, a study by DeAngelis and Phakoo (2013) showed that 53% of hospitals surveyed did not have a policy for cleaning or changing their curtains. Therefore, the question that this study focused on was whether curtain material affects the persistence of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). In this study, five different curtain types were inoculated with overnight, diluted, and finger imprint cultures of S. aureus. Then they were swabbed using a sterile cotton swab and streaked onto Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) plates. The colonies were counted, and One-Way ANOVA statistical analysis was completed on the data. The statistical analysis showed that persistence of liquid cultures of S. aureus on the curtains was not dependent upon initial concentration. In addition, the finger imprints for curtains ABC, abc, 123, and def had statistically significant longer persistence times than the liquid cultures. Curtain 456 (100% antimicrobial polyester with water repellant) had significantly lower persistence times for the finger imprint culture than the other four curtains. The results suggest that the 100% inherently FR antimicrobial polyester curtain material reduces S. aureus persistence times and that it may benefit hospitals to use this type of curtain.