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Anesthesiologists Spreading Germs During Surgery: Study

A disturbing new study finds that bacteria often contaminate the hands of those who give anesthesia to surgical patients, and those germs contribute to disease transmission during operations.


"As anesthesiologists, we like to think that the surgical drapes protect the patient from tens of trillions of microorganisms that are in and on our bodies. Nope! These studies provide evidence that our bacterial flora contribute to surgical site infections," Dr. Steven L. Shafer, editor-in chief of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia, said in a news release from the International Anesthesia Research Society, which publishes the journal.

Researchers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., studied 164 operating room procedures that involved anesthesia. In 11.5 percent of the procedures, researchers discovered that bacteria had been transmitted to the valves of intravenous lines. About half of the time, those germs were detected on the hands of those who provided the anesthesia, such as anesthesiologists and nurse-anesthetists.

The researchers also found that bacteria were transmitted to the operating room in almost 90 percent of procedures.

"Contamination of provider hands before patient care . . . represents an important modifiable risk factor for bacterial cross-contamination," the researchers wrote.