Role of hand contamination of personnel in the epidemiology of gram-negative nosocomial infections.

Gram-negative organisms, responsible for a high rate of colonization and infection in an intensive care nursery, were recovered frequently from hands of personnel, despite regular hand antisepsis. In sequential hand cultures contamination of hands by gram-negative organisms was transient in some nurses, but active multiplication of the organisms occurred on the hands of others and in a few nurses a temporary carrier state appeared to exist. The results of this study suggest that the hands of hospital personnel may serve not only as a passive vehicle in the nosocomial transmission of gran-negative bacteria, but also may constitute a reservoir of nosocomial organisms.