Study shows antibacterial wipes can spread germs.

Study shows antibacterial wipes can spread germs.

By Helen Branswell.

Antibacterial wipes used in hospitals may not be having the intended effect, a new study from Wales suggests.
The work, done by researchers from Cardiff University’s School of Pharmacy, shows that the wipes do not kill high numbers of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. So if they are used on more than one surface, rather than cleaning they may just be spreading germs around.
The researchers studied three types of wipes – one containing detergent, another containing disinfectants and a third containing a natural antimicrobial product.
“We found that all three wipes suffered from the same problem, in that they were transferred high numbers (of bacteria) and in fact in most cases uncountable numbers to consecutive surfaces,” said Gareth Williams, a microbiologist who presented the findings this week at an American Society for Microbiology conference in Boston.
Williams wouldn’t name the products and it’s unclear if they are used in Canadian hospitals.
Dr. Andrew Simor, head of microbiology at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, said he wasn’t surprised by the findings.
“These disinfectants don’t kill all the bugs. You’re physically removing a layer of the organisms. But that doesn’t necessarily kill them. And so it’s easy to pick them up and transfer them to another area.”
Simor said in North America infection control recommendations would specify that a wipe should be used to clean a single area and then should be discarded.
Williams and his colleagues tested whether the three types of wipes could transfer methicillin-resistant Staph aureus – MRSA – or the antibiotic sensitive form of the bacteria from a surface inoculated with the bugs and whether the germs died if they were directly applied to the wipes.
All three types transferred MRSA, though in differing amounts. And none killed sufficient quantities of the bacteria to make reuse of a wipe safe.
Simor said that in his estimation these types of products aren’t needed in homes. “Our households are not settings where you’ve got the same risk of spread of infection (as in hospitals), he said.


Taken from the Hamilton Spectator. Thursday June 5, 2008