Papel do ambiente como reservatório e fonte de transmissão de patógenos hospitalares

Abstract

Background: Inanimate surfaces as a source and vehicle for transmission of virulent microorganisms in the hospital environment. Objectives: The objective was to investigate the potential hospital pathogens that contaminate environmental surfaces, addressing the sources and consequences of this contamination and the forms of prevention and control. Contents: Articles were researched with the following descriptors: Health Facility Environment, Healthcare-Associated Infections, Infectious Agents, Horizontal Transmission of Pathogen, Fomites, Equipment Contamination, in databases and virtual libraries: Scielo, Google scholar, Pubmed, Science direct, Web of Science and Brazilian database Periódico Capes, in the last 5 years. In total, 136,696 articles were found, after exclusion criteria, due to lack of access to the full content of the published article, results described in an incomprehensible or incorrect way, articles of clinical irrelevance in humans, 35 were used to make up the review. Among the relevant risk factors, inanimate surfaces close to patients that are high-touch stand out. The most frequently observed etiological agents were Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter cloacae, Clostridium difficile, Escherichia coli, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, Enlarged beta-lactamase-producing enterobace, Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus casseliflavus. Conclusion: The occurrence of contaminated inanimate surfaces is directly related to the higher incidence of hospital infections and alternatives to contain this problem are necessary. That said, new technologies such as no-touch, continuous training of cleaning professionals and their feedback are important for the prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs).