News Section | Social Health
Study finds hospital pillows ridden with 30 different bugs
In what has come as a real eye-opener, a new study has found 30 different types of infection in a sample of pillows taken from hospital wards – posing a significant risk of infections such as MRSA and C. difficile.
According to the report by The Barts and The London NHS Trust, nurses are required to regularly wash their hands and disinfect bed frames and mattresses, but underestimate the risk of infection from dirty pillows.
The dead skin, dandruff, dirty air and contaminated fluids found on pillows in hospital wards expose patients to the risk of diseases ranging from seasonal flu to chickenpox, hepatitis and even leprosy, it has claimed.
While used linen and bedding is changed and laundered between patients and is routinely cleaned, the study found a “very high and unacceptable percentage” of damaged pillows on three test wards, reports the Telegraph.
Tears to the lining or stitching of pillows mean they cannot be effectively cleaned and patients could be exposed to infection through the mouth, nose, eyes and ears, the report said.
Germs are released through tears and the stitching of standard NHS pillows when pressure is applied – for example when a patient lays their head down, it added.
Dr Arthur Tucker, Principal Clinical Scientist and Senior Lecturer at St. Barts and the London Hospitals and author of the report, said: “The presence of these bugs means that they can and will be passed to patients.”