Guest guest Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 http://news.excite.com/news/r/010523/13/health-computers Computers a Source of Patient Room Contamination Updated: Wed, May 23 1:13 PM EDT By Karla Gale NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Efforts to control the spread of infection in hospitals should include routine cleaning of computer central processing units, researchers reported at the American Society for Microbiology's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. " Computers were recently installed into patient rooms to streamline procedures for physicians and nursing staff, " Dr. Forstall of Mclaren Regional Medical Center in Flint, Michigan, told Reuters Health. At about that same time, Forstall and his colleagues diagnosed a patient with Aspergillus fumigatus infection, " one we don't normally see at our hospital, " he said. A. fumigatus is a type of fungus. " We saw that the computers had a vent with a cooling fan, and there was almost an exhaust coming from the fan, so when we took samples from the grid and from the room, we found that there was growth of several types of yeast and some filamentous mold, " Forstall said. Cultures were obtained from dust on the central processing units (CPUs), and plates were exposed to room air approximately 6 feet from the computers. From the CPUs, Forstall's group identified several potentially infectious fungal organisms including Candida, Aspergillus niger, Phaeoannellomyces, Rhodotorula and Rhizopus. " There is a risk of contamination of computer units, " Forstall concluded, " and measures probably need to be taken to maintain their cleanliness, especially around the grid that protects the cooling fan. " , June 08, 2001 12:13 AM Computer fungus risk to patients Infection control should include regular computer cleaning Critically ill patients in hospital intensive care units could be at risk from computers spewing infectious fungal spores. American researchers found a rare hospital fungus " Aspergillus fumigatus " in their intensive care wards following the installation of computers. Dr Forstall, of the McLaren Regional Medical Centre, in Michigan, said his research highlighted the need for careful cleaning of computers. He told the American Society for Microbiology that when researchers analysed cultures from dust on the central processing units and other parts of the equipment, they spotted another five types of fungus which can cause illness. There is a risk of contamination of computer units and measures probably need to be taken to maintain their cleanliness Dr Forstall Contamination Dr Forstall said the fungal contaminations were first discovered when the computers were introduced into his hospital's 23-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU). " Computers were recently installed into patient rooms to streamline procedures for physicians and nursing staff. Scientists found the fungus in the intensive care units " We saw that the computers had a vent with a cooling fan, and there was almost an exhaust coming from the fan, so when we took samples from the grid and from the room, we found that there was a growth of several types of yeast and some filamentous mould. " There is a risk of contamination of computer units and measures probably need to be taken to maintain their cleanliness, especially around the grid that protects the cooling fan, " he said. Breed cultures Dr Binning, a consultant anaesthetist in ICU at the Western Infirmary, in Glasgow, said UK hospitals would also need to ensure their computers were clean. He said he had been unaware of the potential of computers to store and breed cultures but added that inspections would now be carried out. " It could potentially be a problem. " I think it is one of the many potential problems in hospitals and is another aspect that we will be looking at. " We have infection control teams that swab regularly here in the unit. " Dr Binning said that due to financial constraints in the NHS there were fewer hospital computers on intensive care wards compared to the US, where each intensive care ward bed can have a PC and monitor. Search BBC News Online > > > >Hi , Thanks so much for this info. I have some questions. It seemed to work for to a degree. You had >visible mold (although it was hidden) I should check my computer circuit boards- how would I do that? > Loni, > I would not be as concerned with your computer motherboard or your > laptop as much as I would your monitor. That is the only place I > found mold to be honest. I just wanted to warn that it can travel on > other electronic equipmnet, tv's computers, clock radios, etc. > Hopefully you don't even have a problem I hate to alarm people > unnecassarly. But better to be safe than sorry. I think I had that > monitor outside and it was in a damp environment for a stint. So it > might be an exceptional situation. > Below is a link to my website with a high res picture of it. About > 300k > http://web.tampabay.rr.com/rchrist9/page2.html > At first glance you might think that is just dust that can be blown > off. It's not. It's black mold that would have to be scrubed off if > I were to remove it. I just threw the thing out. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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