Saturday, March 7, 2009

Beware of cell phones of hospital workers !..


I heard from one of my friend a few days back, that a patient who was admitted to a hospital for the treatment for Parkinson disease got infected thro' the medical ventilator. One can imagine the fate of the patient.

Now while reading an article, I found this something strange (but a true fact !) which I want to share with others, this time the culprit here is mobile phone(s).

A Turkey research group lead by Dr. Fatma Ulger, tested the phones of doctors and nurses in hospital operating rooms and intensive care units. They found that almost 95% were contaminated with bacteria of different types (culturing the bacteria from cell phones !), potentially causing infections ranging from relatively minor skin complaints to life-threatening illness. The results are of great importance because of he fact that 'cross-contamination of bacteria between the hands of healthcare workers and their mobile phones' and there by cell phones acting as a reservoir of infection which may facilitate patient-to-patient transmission of bacteria in a hospital setting.

Hope, at least now the concerned authorities take the necessary steps like "strict infection-control procedures, environmental disinfections hand hygiene and decontamination methods are recommended for not only the hand-held electronic devices also for CELL PHONES.....

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