BEWARE PRIVACY CURTAINS CARRY SUPERBUGS LIKE MRSA

RID Alert – October 17, 2018

If you’re in the hospital, beware of the curtain hanging near your bed.

Privacy curtains are seldom changed.  Within two weeks of being hung in a patient’s room, almost 9 out of 10 curtains tested positive for the superbug MRSA, even though they were hanging in the rooms of patients who did not have MRSA.

Doctors and other caregivers carrying MRSA on their hands or gloves pull the curtain open and closed, each time adding to the contamination level. The curtain becomes a vector of disease, contaminating the hands of other staff who touch it.

Tip for patients and their families:
Ask doctors and nurses not to touch the privacy curtain.

Sources:  Becker’s Hospital Review, September 26, 2018 and American Journal of Infection Control