March 19, 2007 — Healthcare workers' lanyards and name badges can harbor pathogens including antibiotic resistant 'superbugs', an Australian hospital study has shown for the first time.
Melbourne researchers showed the popular bootlace-like necklaces that clip to identification cards carry more disease-causing bacteria than standard clip-on badges, and are more likely to be contaminated with antibiotic resistant microbes.
The researchers say hospital pathogens could be transmitted from the hands or clothes of healthcare workers. And infection experts suggest cleaning lanyards and badges in light of these preliminary findings.
The researchers, from Monash Medical Center’s infection control unit, will present their findings at the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases annual scientific meeting in Hobart this week.
They collected samples from the surface of lanyards plus the surface, edge and connections of badges worn by 53 nurses and 18 doctors. They isolated 18 pathogens from badges and 27 from lanyards.
The material that lanyards are made from probably made it easier for the researchers to isolate pathogens. But more research is needed to confirm this, they said. Levels of bacteria or bacterial load, were also higher on lanyards.
Of the microbes isolated overall, seven were the 'superbug' methicillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); 29 were methicillin sensitive
S. aureus (MSSA); four were enterococci and five were aerobic gram-negative bacilli.
