GERMS GETTING RESISTANT TO HAND GELS & SANITIZERS,BE CAREFUL USING IT IN HOSPITAL / CLINIC

GERMS GETTING RESISTANT TO HAND GELS & SANITIZERS,BE CAREFUL  USING IT IN HOSPITAL / CLINIC 

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We as a doctor in our hospital or clinic always wash our hand with many hand gels or sanitizers before and after examining patient so that we donot transmit micro organism from us to patient and vice versa but as per a new study,potentially dangerous bacteria already resistant to antibiotics are now developing resistance to common alcohol-based hand gels.A bacteria called Enterococcus faecium is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections, and it's been shrugging off antibiotics at an increasing rate, said senior researcher Timothy Stinear. He is a molecular microbiologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

"It's a WHO [World Health Organization] and CDC-recognized superbug," Stinear said. "In the hospital it is already resistant to nearly all classes of antibiotics."Now E. faecium appears to be developing resistance to alcohol-based sanitizers, possibly in response to the vast use of the antimicrobial gels in hospital hand-hygiene programs, Stinear and his colleagues have found."E. faecium has adapted to the health-care environment," Stinear said.

                 E. faecium and other enterococci are bacteria found in the gut, and typically are not hostile or harmful, the researchers said in background notes.However, these germs have emerged as a major cause of hospital-associated bacterial infections, the study authors noted. This family of bacteria account for a tenth of hospital-acquired bacterial infections worldwide, and are the fourth and fifth leading cause of blood poisoning in North America and Europe, respectively.

        To see whether this resistance would translate into more infections, the researchers introduced different strains of E. faecium onto the floors of mouse cages. They then wiped down the cages with isopropyl alcohol wipes, which should have effectively disinfected them.Bacteria that had developed a resistance to alcohol sanitizers were better able to dodge disinfection and colonize the guts of mice placed in the cages, the findings showed.

       Genetic analysis of alcohol-resistant bacteria found that they had developed several mutations in genes linked to cell metabolism. These mutations appear to make the cellular membranes of E. faecium more resistant to solvents like alcohol. "Alcohol-based hand hygiene use has increased 10-fold over the past 20 years in Australian hospitals, so we are using a lot and the environment is changing," Stinear said.

                  Stinear said that harsher hand rubs containing higher concentrations of alcohol will be needed to overcome this resistance.Hospitals also need to make sure that the rubs are used thoroughly by staff, making sure that all skin surfaces on the hand are covered and given enough contact time to kill the bugs, the study authors added.The new study was published Aug. 1 in Science Translational Medicine.