Attempts to control clothes-borne infection in a burn unit: I. Experimental investigations of some clothes for barrier nursing

Abstract

Clothes-borne transmission is an important way of spread of infection from patient to patient which is not interrupted by common cotton gowns. New barrier garments were designed from spun-bonded olefin that, in particle penetration tests, was 100 times better as a filter than cotton cloth. Three designs, a gown, a loose coverall and a close coverall, were compared with each other and with conventional cotton gowns in experimental exercise and nursing procedures. Staphylococcus aureus from burned patients were used as markers. The close coverall was 4–7 times better than the loose coverall or gown in preventing the soiling of clothes worn underneath it, but appeared to permit substantially more transfer from garments underneath it to a mock ‘patient’ and to the air than did the looser garments. A cotton gown reduced the soiling of clothes underneath it by more than 10 times and the contamination of a mock patient by more than 30 times as compared with no barrier garment. The close coverall further diminished the contamination of clothes but not the transfer to the patient. The possible mechanisms for the discrepancy between particle transmission tests and experimental procedures are discussed.