Loading...
Clostridium difficile-related diarrhea is seen in patients receiving certain antibiotics and is also acquired nosocomially, but the mode of transmission is not clear. To test the hypothesis that C. difficile might be transmitted via the hands of hospital personnel, Johnson and colleagues conducted a controlled trial of disposable vinyl glove use for all body-substance contact. The authors monitored the incidence of C. difficile diarrhea on two hospital wards for six months before and after glove use.
C. difficile diarrhea decreased significantly from 7.7 cases per 1000 patient discharges before glove use to 1.5 cases after, while no significant change was observed on the "non-glove" wards. C. difficile carriage was also reduced significantly…