Some types of antibacterial wipes used in hospitals may be responsible for spreading MRSA instead of killing it, according to recent research.
Scientists at the Welsh School of Pharmacy observed that MRSA survived on the surface of the wipe and could be transmitted if it was subsequently used for further cleaning.
Dr Gareth Williams, who is presenting the research at the American Society of Microbiology's Annual Meeting in Boston, said he planned to share his full findings with infection control teams.
During his research Dr Williams visited several hospitals to observe how staff used the wipes. He noticed that it was common practice for a single wipe to be used on more than one surface.
Dr Williams commented: "What I found was that staff would wipe one thing, perhaps a bed rail, then move on to several other surfaces, so we went back to the laboratory to see how different wipes performed under these conditions."
The wipes are efficient at cleaning bacteria from the first surface, but were unable to kill the bacteria quickly. This meant that the subsequent cleaning using the same wipe resulted in contamination.
Dr Williams said: "What is remarkable is that some of these wipes actually have the words 'kills MRSA' written on the box.
"We found that, under the conditions we observed in actual hospitals, this wasn't the case."
The researchers recommend that wipes are used on a single surface only.
Scientists at the Welsh School of Pharmacy observed that MRSA survived on the surface of the wipe and could be transmitted if it was subsequently used for further cleaning.
Dr Gareth Williams, who is presenting the research at the American Society of Microbiology's Annual Meeting in Boston, said he planned to share his full findings with infection control teams.
During his research Dr Williams visited several hospitals to observe how staff used the wipes. He noticed that it was common practice for a single wipe to be used on more than one surface.
Dr Williams commented: "What I found was that staff would wipe one thing, perhaps a bed rail, then move on to several other surfaces, so we went back to the laboratory to see how different wipes performed under these conditions."
The wipes are efficient at cleaning bacteria from the first surface, but were unable to kill the bacteria quickly. This meant that the subsequent cleaning using the same wipe resulted in contamination.
Dr Williams said: "What is remarkable is that some of these wipes actually have the words 'kills MRSA' written on the box.
"We found that, under the conditions we observed in actual hospitals, this wasn't the case."
The researchers recommend that wipes are used on a single surface only.
