A lavarse las manos con agua jabón

Some Bacteria Seen Adapting to Hospitals' Alcohol Handwashes

By Joe Elia

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM

Some isolates of Enterococcus faecium can tolerate the high levels of alcohol in handwashes and may be responsible for the increased prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Science Translational Medicine reports.

Researchers compared E. faecium tolerance to alcohol in bacterial isolates collected almost 20 years apart. They found that samples collected after 2010 were 10-fold more tolerant to alcohol than earlier samples.

The researchers also noted an increase in genetic mutations that affect alcohol metabolism in the resistant samples.

They warn that these strains have "the potential to undermine the effectiveness of alcohol-based disinfectant standard precautions and may, in part, explain the increase in VRE infection that is now widely reported in hospitals in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia."

Science Translational Medicine article (Free abstract)

Background: NEJM Journal Watch Infectious Diseases summary on E. faecium transmission (Your NEJM Journal Watch registration required)

Benjamin Hidalgo-Matlock

Skin Care Physicians of Costa Rica

4000-1054

2101-9574

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