The role of environmental cleaning in the control of hospital-acquired infection.

The precise role of environmental cleaning in the control of HAIs remains unknown. Until cleaning becomes an evidence-based science, with established methods for assessment, the importance of a clean environment is likely to remain speculative. This review will examine the links between the hospital environment and various pathogens, Unfortunately, cleaning is often delivered as part of an overall infection control package in response to an outbreak and the importance of cleaning as a single intervention remains controversial. Recent work has shown that hand-touch sites are habitually contaminated by hospital pathogens, which are then delivered to patients on hands. It is possible that prioritising the cleaning of these sites might offer a useful adjunct to the current preoccupation with hand hygiene, since hand-touch sites comprise the less well-studied side of the hand-touch site equation. J Hosp Infect. 2009 Dec;73(4):378-85. Epub 2009 Sep 1.