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19:00 24 May 04
NewScientist.com news service
Doctors may be harbouring disease-causing bugs in their ties that could
potentially be transmitted to patients, a new study has found. Nearly half
the neckties worn by 42 doctors at the New York Hospital Medical Center of
Queen's (NYHMCQ) contained bacteria which can cause dangerous conditions
like pneumonia and blood infections, the researchers found.
"This study brings into question whether wearing a necktie is in the best
interest of our patients," says NYHMCQ's Steven Nurkin, who led the team.
"Being well-dressed adds to an aura of professionalism and has been
correlated with higher patient confidence," he says. "But while there is no
direct evidence to implicate neckties in the transmission of infection to
patients, the link between contaminated necktie and the potential for
transmission must be considered."
However, infection control expert Ed Mangini, also part of the NYHMCQ team,
thinks ties are unlikely to be a major culprit in the spread of infection in
hospitals. "The contribution that ties make to the transmission of infection
is minor compared with that of hands," he told New Scientist. "If we could
just get people to consistently wash their hands between patients we would
cut down on transmission of infection dramatically."
Notorious superbug
The team decided to probe the bacterial content of physicians' ties after a
student doing a surgical rotation at the hospital noticed that doctors' ties
occasionally brushed against patients during an examination. Nearly half -
20 out of 42 - ties sampled from male doctors, physician assistants and
medical students walking the wards on three different days contained a
reservoir of pathogens. This compared with just one in 10 of the ties taken
from security personnel who acted as the control group. The odds of a
clinician wearing a contaminated tie were eight times greater than that of
security personnel.
The team scraped samples off the ties and cultured them. One in three
harboured Staphlococcus aureus. Resistant forms of this bacterium include
the notorious hospital superbug MRSA. Other potentially serious bugs found
included Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Pandemic organisms
Mangini says it was not too surprising that doctors were transporting germs
in their ties, as previous studies have shown that doctors' stethoscopes and
cellphones are also germ reservoirs. What was a surprise, he says, is that
none of the bugs were resistant strains. "Our results were very interesting
and dramatic, in that physicians were carrying germs, but we were also
relieved we weren't killing people!"
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