MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococcus) has been found in privacy curtains in hospitals, according to a new study.
For the study - unveiled at an infectious diseases conference on Monday in Chicago - scientists swabbed 43 hospital curtains twice a week for three weeks.
180 samples from the curtains were analyzed by the team – a total of 119 germs were found, Reuters reports.
Twenty-six percent of curtains tested positive for the potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria known as MRSA.
44 percent tested positive for a form of Enterococcus bacteria - some of which were antibiotic resistant, reports Reuters.
Researchers also placed 13 new curtains in a hospital for the study. Within a week, 12 were contaminated.
Study author Dr. Michael Ohl is an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa.
"The hospital environment plays an important role in the transmission of infections in the health care setting,” Ohl told Reuters.
“It's clear that these privacy curtains are potentially important sites of contamination because they are frequently touched by patients and providers," he added.
Dr. Ohl said there's a cheap and practical solution health care workers can use to prevent infection.
