Contamination Sources

[Charlie B53]

A contamination caused an infection from Hell that refused to die.  3d time around my PD cath came out and now on Hemo with a Perma cath.

I've no doubt that it was MY error, I had to have touched a fitting during set-up causing this contamination and infection.

Since reading some scary stuff about blood borne infections of those on Hemo I have begun to wonder about the source of some of these contamination.

I have a beard.  Many times during hose changes while on PD my Nurse has put a second face mask over my beard just to be sure it is kept clear of the hose fittings during the change.  This makes me wonder about hairs in general.  On hemo with my Perma cath the tech cleans and rebandages my site at every treatment.  While I always keep my head up and back to try to keep my beard away from the site there are many times a hair is caught under the tape, trapped, and I have to pull it out or break it off, leaving that hair stuck under there.

I've noticed NONE of the clinic staff wear hair nets.  So I have to ask wouldn't it be wise for EVERYONE, staff and PATIENTS to be NETTED?  Hair AND beards?

OR.... does hair carry the bad bugs that cause these nasty infections?   Are these bugs primarily skin carried?

Is this a reasonable question or just a bit of paranoia?

[cassandra]

No Charlie I completely agree with you, hence doing HD at home. When I started in the 80's, getting connected was done by Two nurses in scrubs. Patients wearing masks and gloves and hairnets. Years later and it's staff walking in and out of treatment rooms. Same uniform, and shoes inside and outside the building. Windows open, Etc. etc.

However, that nasty bug you caught , might have something to do with little cats in your bedroom?

Love, Cas

[KatieV]

My "bug", that I'm currently on round 3 with, is on my skin, but I imagine different bugs could be transported on hair.  Mine is a staph infection and clings to everything.  I have discussed a decontamination protocol with the Infectious Disease doctors.  They wanted to wait until I was off the IV antibiotics, but before my fistula revision.  Doesn't look like that's going to happen now...

The main goal of the gown, mask, and gloves that the techs/nurses wear seems to be protecting themselves from our blood NOT protecting us from germs.  During turn-over, they don't switch gowns between patients.

[smartcookie]

Our nurses are supposed to wear their hair in a ponytail/bun if they have long hair or keep their short hair neat and away from the face.  We don't use hairnets.  Our one male tech does wear a bask over his beard.  I am allowed to be on the floor with a gown and face shield, but my hair can be down.  This is an excellent question.  I will see if we have any policies on hair nets.

[iolaire]

I'm most worried about transfer of super bugs.  Very recently I read a story of how nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and hospitals move patients from one to another and frequently do not tell the next stop that the patient has an infectious super bug.   And they don't report super bug infestations until its very bad because the rules are not firm on what must be reported. I thought it was in the NY Times but I could not find it, so it might be somewhere else.

At my center I think they are good with blood control but I do think they move from patient to patient doing cleaner things without changing gloves or washing hands.  I could see super bugs getting moved from a patient to me via the machines, computers etc...  Especially with the various highly vulnerable patients that are moving between hospitals, rehabilitation or nursing homes and my center.

[Charlie B53]

My bug was from my skin, NOT from the cats.

It was a very long word beginning with a C.  Something IIRC in the staph family.

I thought this a valid question.  Am half surprised at the multiple responses already.

It's good to ask questions.  I will at tomorrow's treatment.   Will be sure to let you know what I find out.

[Charlie B53]

O.K.  I did a little digging, got a copy of the lab reports from the first hospital and another from the VA hospital.  Seems they have different names but both are from the same class of bug.  Neither from the cats.  These are normally found on human skin.

St Joseph Hospital lab reports             enterococcus faecalis
VA Hospital reports                             Staphylococcus (Coagulase faecalis)

This all looks like Greek to me.  I still have a lot to look up and learn.