Patients can easily spread bacteria that's difficult to control to their nurses' clothing, according to a new study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 
 
 Researchers say the sleeves and pockets of nurses' scrubs and the railing on hospital beds were the most likely areas to be contaminated. 
 
 The study tracked the transmission of bacteria that included methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa — all of which have shown resistance to many antibiotics. 
 
 The researchers looked at 167 patients who received care from 40 nurses during three separate 12-hour intensive care shifts. 
 
 Intensive care units were of interest because almost half of hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. occur in ICUs, according to the CDC. 
 
 The lead author of the CDC study recommends hand-washing after all patient encounters, the use of disposable gloves and gowns when treating patients with specific infections, and meticulous and regular cleaning of patients' rooms. (Mariana Bazo/Reuters) 
 
 Staphylococcus aureus is one of the three bacteria commonly found in Canadian hospitals, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute says. 
 
 About 220,000 Canadians get hospital-acquired infections each year, and 8,000 die from them, the institute says. 
 
 All nurses involved in the U.S. study cared for two or more patients per shift and used new scrubs for each shift. Researchers took cultures twice a day from the nurses' scrubs, patients and the patients' rooms and found 22 (18 per cent) transmissions of the same strain of bacteria. 
 
 Same number for bugs spread to nurses, rooms 
 
 Of those transmissions, six (27 per cent) were from patient to nurse, six were from the room to the nurse and 10 (roughly 45 per cent) were from patient to the room. 
 
 Researchers tested the sleeves, pockets and midriffs of nurses' scrubs and found the pockets and sleeves were the most likely to be contaminated. They also took samples from supply carts, beds and bed rails and found the latter most likely to be contaminated. 
 
 The types of bacteria in the 22 transmissions were: 
 
 Seven methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus. 
 
 ​Five methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. 
 
 ​Three Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. 
 
 Three Acinetobacter baumanii complex. 
 
 Two Klebsiella pneumoniae. 
 
 ​Two Pseudomonas aeruginosa. 
 
 The researchers did not identify any bugs that had spread from nurses to patients, but they noted this kind of transmission likely occurs in hospitals. 
 
 "We think it's more common than not that these bugs spread to patients in hospitals because of temporary contamination of healthcare workers," Dr. Deverick Anderson, lead author of the study and associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., said in a release. 
 
 The study was presented in New Orleans on Thursday at ID Week, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 
 
 Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. ||||| THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The "scrubs" of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses often pick up disease-causing germs, including those resistant to antibiotics, a new study reports. 
 
 "We know there are bad germs in hospitals, but we're just beginning to understand how they are spread," said study lead author Dr. Deverick Anderson, an associate professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. 
 
 These bad germs spread from patients to the nurses' uniforms (usually the sleeves and pockets) and objects around the room, most often to bed railings, the researchers found. 
 
 "This study is a good wake-up call that health care personnel need to concentrate on the idea that the health care environment can be contaminated," said Anderson. 
 
 "Any type of patient care, or even just entry into a room where care is provided, truly should be considered a chance for interacting with organisms that can cause disease," he added in a university news release. 
 
 The study included 40 intensive care unit nurses at Duke University Hospital. Samples were collected from their scrubs before and after each 12-hour shift. Samples were also collected from all the patients the nurses cared for and items in the patients' rooms. 
 
 The researchers focused on five pathogens known to cause hard-to-treat infections, including an antibiotic-resistant superbug called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). 
 
 The study found 22 instances when at least one of the five germs was transmitted from the patient or the room to a nurse's scrubs. In six incidents, the germs spread from patient to nurse and room to nurse, and in 10 instances, bacteria was transmitted from the patient to the room. 
 
 There were no nurse-to-patient or nurse-to-room transmissions, according to the findings. 
 
 The study is scheduled for presentation in New Orleans Thursday at ID Week, the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association, and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 
 
 "I think sometimes there's the misconception that if, for instance, a nurse is just talking to patients and not actually touching them, that it might be OK to skip protocols that help reduce pathogen transmission, like washing hands or wearing gloves," Anderson said. ||||| NEW ORLEANS - Bad bugs readily spread from patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) to nurses' scrubs and the room, according to research being presented at IDWeek 2016™. The sleeves and pockets of the scrubs and the bed railing were the most likely to be contaminated. 
 
 The study tracked the transmission of bacteria known to be particularly troublesome in hospitals, including those such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are resistant to many antibiotics. 
 
 "We know there are bad germs in hospitals but we're just beginning to understand how they are spread," said Deverick J. Anderson, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. "This study shows we need to be 100 percent diligent about infection control strategies." To prevent spread of these bugs, he notes three components are especially important: hand washing after all patient encounters; using disposable gloves and gowns when treating patients with specific infections, and meticulous and regular cleaning of patients' rooms. 
 
 Researchers set out to learn more about the spread of bacteria leading to hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) by focusing on the triangle of transmission in the hospital: patient, environment (room) and nurse. HAIs affect one in 25 hospitalized patients on any given day, and almost half of HAIs occur in the ICU, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 
 
 The study, funded by CDC, included 167 patients who received care from 40 nurses during three separate 12-hour ICU shifts, for a total of 120 individual shifts. All nurses cared for two or more patients per shift and used new scrubs for each shift. Researchers took samples (cultures) twice a day from the nurses' scrubs, patients and the patients' rooms and found 22 (18 percent) transmissions of the same strain of bacteria, confirmed by microbiological and molecular analysis. Of those transmissions: 6 (27 percent) were from patient to nurse, 6 (27 percent) were from were from the room to the nurse and 10 (45 percent) were from patient to the room. The types of bacteria transmitted were: 7 methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), 5 MRSA, 3 Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM), 3 Acinetobacter baumanii complex (ABC), 2 Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) and 2 Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PS). 
 
 Researchers cultured the sleeves, pockets and midriff of the nurses' scrubs and found the pockets and sleeves were most likely to be contaminated. They cultured the supply cart, bed and bed rails and found the latter most likely to be contaminated. 
 
 The researchers did not identify any bugs that had spread from nurses to patients, but note that it likely occurs in hospitals. "We think it's more common than not that these bugs spread to patients in hospitals because of temporary contamination of healthcare workers," said Dr. Anderson. 
 
 He said that they found the bacteria in the room no matter when they took the cultures, even though the rooms were cleaned daily. That suggests cleaning of the room while the patient is still there may not be as meticulous as it is after a patient is discharged, and that needs to change, he said. 
 
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 In addition to Dr. Anderson, co-authors of the study are Bobby Warren, BS, Rachel Addison, MT, MPH, Batu K. Sharma-Kuinkel, PhD, Yuliya Lokhnygina, MS, PhD, Laura J. Rojas, MSc, Susan D. Rudin, BS, Robert Bonomo, MD and Vance G. Fowler Jr., MD. 
 
 About IDWeek
– A new study looking at how germs are spread at hospitals has identified a surprising potential culprit: nurses' scrubs. Specifically, their pockets and sleeves were the most likely spots to be contaminated, reports WebMD. Another potential hot spot: the bed railings of patients, according to a post about the research at Eureka Alert. The study followed 40 ICU nurses caring for 167 patients at Duke University Hospital. Samples were collected from the nurses' uniforms before and after their 12-hour shifts, as well as from the patients and objects in their rooms such as supply carts and beds. Researchers did not find any instances in which nurses passed along bacteria to patients, but they found that nurses picked them up from patients or the room in multiple instances. "We know there are bad germs in hospitals, but we're just beginning to understand how they are spread," says lead author Deverick Anderson of Duke University. Of the 22 transmissions they discovered, six were from patient to nurse, six were from the room to the nurse, and 10 were from the patient to the room, reports the CBC. The researchers looked for five strains particularly vexing to hospitals because of their resistance to antibiotics. They say one takeaway is the need for stricter protocols on hand washing and the use of gloves, even if a nurse doesn't actually touch a patient while in the room. (One weird potential help in the fight against superbugs: the milk of Tasmanian devils.)