Hand carriage of aerobic Gram-negative rods by health care personnel

Abstract

SUMMARYA quantitative culture technique (hand washed in a glove containing broth for 30 s) was used to determine the frequency of hand carriage of aerobic Gram-negative rods by various groups of health care workers and 104 control subjects. Overall, 31 % of health care workers carried aerobic Gram-negative rods on their hands compared to 59% of control subjects (P< 0.001).Enterobacter agglomeransaccounted for 40% of the isolates, and otherEnterobacterspp. 7%. Other organisms includedAcinetobacter calcoaceticus21%, Serratiaspp. 11%,Klebsiellaspp. 10%,Moraxellaspp. 3%,Pseudomonasspp. 3%,Proteusspp. 1.5%,Escherichia coli1%;Morganella morganii, Citrobacter freundii, Aeromonassp. and an isolate that was not speciated accounted for 0.5% each. We conclude that endemic hand carriage of aerobic Gram-negative rods by health care personnel is common, but significantly less than that of control subjects.Enterobacter agglomeransis found so frequently on the hands of control subjects that it must be considered part of the normal hand flora.