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Preventing the Airborne Spread of Staphylococcus aureus by Persons With the Common Cold: Effect of Surgical Scrubs, Gowns, and Masks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Werner E. Bischoff ,
Brian K. Tucker ,
Michelle L. Wallis ,
Beth A. Reboussin ,
Michael A. Pfaller ,
Frederick G. Hayden  and
Robert J. Sherertz
Werner E. Bischoff*
Affiliation:
Sections on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Brian K. Tucker
Affiliation:
Sections on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Michelle L. Wallis
Affiliation:
Sections on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Beth A. Reboussin
Affiliation:
Biostatistics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Michael A. Pfaller
Affiliation:
Medical Microbiology Division, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa
Frederick G. Hayden
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, Virginia
Robert J. Sherertz
Affiliation:
Sections on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
*
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Infectious Diseases, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1042 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Objective.

Transmission of Staphylococcus aureus via air may play an important role in healthcare settings. This study investigates the impact of barrier precautions on the spread of airborne S. aureus by volunteers with experimentally induced rhinovirus infection (ie, the common cold).

Design.

Prospective nonrandomized study.

Setting.

Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Winston-Salem, NC).

Participants.

A convenience sample of 10 individuals with nasal S. aureus carriage selected from 593 students screened for carriage.

Intervention.

Airborne S. aureus dispersal was studied in the 10 participants under the following clothing conditions: street clothes, surgical scrubs, surgical scrubs and a gown, and the latter plus a face mask. After a 4-day baseline period, volunteers were exposed to a rhinovirus, and their clinical course was followed for 12 days. Daily swabs of nasal specimens, pharynx specimens, and skin specimens were obtained for quantitative culture, and cold symptoms were documented. Data were analyzed by random-effects negative binomial models.

Results.

All participants developed a common cold. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) indicated that, compared with airborne levels of S. aureus during sessions in which street clothes were worn, airborne levels decreased by 75% when surgical scrubs were worn (P<.001), by 80% when scrubs and a surgical gown were worn (P<.001), and by 82% when scrubs, a gown, and a face mask were worn (P<.001). The addition of a mask to the surgical scrubs and gown did not reduce the airborne dispersal significantly (IRR, 0.92;P>.05). Male volunteers shed twice as much S. aureus as females (incidence rate ratio, 2.04; P = .013). The cold did not alter the efficacy of the barrier precautions.

Conclusions.

Scrubs reduced the spread of airborne S. aureus, independent of the presence of a rhinovirus-induced cold. Airborne dispersal of S. aureus during sessions in which participants wore surgical scrubs was not significantly different from that during sessions in which gowns and gowns plus masks were also worn.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 28 , Issue 10 , October 2007 , pp. 1148 - 1154
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2007 

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