Blood pressure cuffs as a potential fomite for transmission of pathogenic micro- organisms: A prospective study in a university teaching hospital

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the contamination of blood pressure cuffs on medical, surgical, paediatric and intensive care areas in a university teaching hospital. Design: A comprehensive, prospective study quantitatively and qualitatively evaluating the bacterial contamination on blood pressure cuffs of 100 sphygmomanometers in use in ten hospital units from June through to July 2007. Setting: A university teaching hospital with medical, surgical, paediatric and intensive care units. Results: The inner sides of the cuffs were found to harbour more organisms (97%) compared to the outer surface (89%). The inside also had a much higher level of contamination, 29% having >100 colony forming units (cfu) compared to only 8% with >100cfu on the outer surface. On average most cuffs were found to have organisms in the 10—100 cfu range. The most heavily contaminated cuffs (>100cfu) were found on the general intensive care unit. Coagulase negative Staphylococcus was the most commonly isolated organism, found in 67% of samples.