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Volume 7, Number 2—April 2001
THEME ISSUE
4th Decennial International Conference on Nosocomial and Healthcare-Associated Infections
Prevention is Primary

Hygiene of the Skin: When Is Clean Too Clean?

Elaine LarsonComments to Author 
Author affiliation: Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, New York, USA

Main Article

Table

Microbial flora colonizing hands of health-care professionals

A. Microbial counts
Year (reference) Sample (# subjects) Mean log10 CFUa
1986 (62) Staff of bone marrow transplant unit (n = 22) 4. 89
1992 (63) Pediatric staff, Peru (n = 62) 5.88
1997 (64) Nurses in acute care unit (n = 40) 5.61
B. Resistance of coagulase-negative staphylococcal flora
Resistant (%) to
Year (reference) Sample (no. of isolates) methicillin tetracycline
1986 (62) Staff of bone marrow transplant unit (50) 68.0 23.0
1988 (65) oncology, dermatology staff (152) 50.7 30.7
1992 (63) Pediatric staff, Peru (279) 40.9 45.4
1997 (64) Acute care nurses (122) 59.0 10.5

aCFU = Colony-forming unit

Main Article

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Main Article

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