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Hospital bugs ‘spread by use of wet wipes to clean wards’ according to first study of its kind

Medical wet wipes used to clean hospital wards are helping spread deadly superbugs, the first study of its kind has revealed.

The majority of UK hospitals support the use of clinical detergent wipes in the routine cleaning of wards.

But the study discovered that in ‘every instance’ the wet wipes actually spread the superbugs from one surface to another. Cardiff University scientists said the wipes were ‘not up to the job’ of eliminating superbugs.

They tested seven clinical detergent wipes on three common hospital infections, including the deadly MRSA and C. difficile.

Their study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, found that the wipes were very inconsistent in their ability to remove spores of the bacteria from hospital surfaces following a wiping procedure that lasted ten seconds.

Even more concerning was that all the wipes repeatedly spread significant amounts of bacteria over three consecutive surfaces.

Bacteria found on hospital surfaces leads to infections and results in longer and more expensive patient stays and treatments.

But until now there has been no information about the efficacy of clinical detergent wet wipes in removing disease-causing bacteria from these surfaces without spreading them.

Professor Jean-Yves Maillard, from Cardiff University, said: ‘Although the detergent wipes succeed in removing superbugs, they transfer them when the wipe is used on a different surface.

‘Hospital staff must be educated to ensure these products are used properly – a single wipe should not be used on multiple surfaces.’

In 2012 there were 1,646 deaths involving Clostridium difficile infection in England and Wales, and 292 deaths related to MRSA.

Source Mail Online