Jewelry hygiene

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Jewelry hygiene is an area of study focusing on sanitary practices and habits relating to jewelry in an effort to understand jewelry's effect on hand hygiene. There are four key elements to optimally sanitizing jewelry: steam or hot water, water pressure and an antibacterial cleaning agent. Hand hygiene is particularly acute for health workers and those working in the food service industry.

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Jewelry and hand contamination

The relationship between wearing rings and the transmission of microorganisms is still unclear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline has categorized this as an "unresolved issue" in need of additional research; [1] the draft WHO guidelines also do not have a stated recommendation against the wearing of rings but note that "the consensus recommendation is to discourage the wearing of rings or other jewelry during healthcare." [2] A number of studies have shown that ring wearing increases the likelihood of bacterial contamination; in particular these studies have demonstrated that the skin under rings can be more heavily colonized than areas of skin without rings and can be a major contributor to hand contamination.

Trick et al. (2003) [3] studied 66 surgical intensive care unit nurses, culturing each hand before and after the staff nurse performed hand hygiene; they found that wearing rings was associated with a 10-fold higher median count of skin microorganisms, especially with yeast species or Gram-negative bacilli and a stepwise increase risk of contamination with any transient organism as the number of rings worn increased.

Another study states that rings were the only substantial risk factor for carriage of Gram-negative bacteria and S. aureus on the hands. [4] Salsbury et al. (1997) [5] found that there was a higher reduction after hand washing by healthcare workers without rings than by those with rings. The study included 100 hospital healthcare workers who worked on general medical and surgical units, excluding those who had used antimicrobial soap in the previous two weeks, had artificial nails, or were receiving antibiotics. Each healthcare worker who wore rings was paired with a worker from the same unit who did not wear rings. Cultures were taken from the solution poured over each healthcare worker's hands as they performed a 60-second friction rinse, done both before and after a routine handwash. Mean total colony counts for those who wore rings were higher before and after hand washing.

Hoffman et al. (1985) [6] reports that mean bacterial counts were higher on ring-wearing fingers (1600 compared to 180 for non-ring wearing fingers). They survey included 50 nurses working on medical and surgical wards who permanently wore rings and studied the microorganisms isolated from skin under the rings. Forty percent of these nurses (20 nurses) had Gram-negative bacilli on the skill under their rings, and 16 of these 20 nurses still had most strains each time the nurses were sampled during the five-month study. A similar study found that even after washing hands with povidone-iodine, those with rings had higher bacterial counts than those without. [7] The published research appears to show that jewelry is a significant vehicle for the transmission of pathogens and a driver of hand contamination.

Starbucks announces new dress code guidelines

In 2009 the Food and Drug Administration updated its Food Code policy. [8] In chapter two entitled "Management & Personnel" they addressed the issue of food-borne illness as it relates to the wearing of jewelry in the work place. To reduce the spread of pathogens and avoid potential cross contamination, the wearing jewelry on the hands was restricted to just plain rings only. "Except for a plain ring such as a wedding band, while preparing food, food employees may not wear jewelry including medical information jewelry on their arms and hands." Jewelry located on the hands and arms can serve as a growth medium for bacteria resulting in food poisoning. In November 2014, Starbucks Corporation issued new guidelines for food safety. Starbucks U.S. Retail Dress Code Guidelines

In anticipation of doubling their food offerings in the next 5 years, Their spokesman said "Starbucks new jewelry guidelines are based on the FDA Model Food Code that state and local jurisdictions follow. We've also been working with Registered Environmental Health Specialists who are former FDA health inspectors to ensure these changes align with food safety rules." In the guidelines employees who handle food are required to remove all gemstone rings, all bracelets and all watches. The only exception is a plain gold wedding band.

Jewelry hygiene expert David Bellman reacted to the announcement a few days later stating "This new policy change in long over due; in 2014, 1 in 6 Americans experienced some form of food poisoning and based on our research, contaminated jewelry is clearly playing a meaningful role." Food safety is a major concern but heavy bacteria loads on jewelry also contribute to the spread of infections at home and in hospitals. Bellman sees human behavior as the culprit, "Through the generations we have been conditioned to believe that jewelry is to be worn and rarely removed or cleaned. Yet, when you think about it, would you wear the same shirt or pants day after day for 6 months without cleaning them? he suggests "Give your jewelry the same consideration you give your clothes, your dishes or your home. Remove the largest single source of bacteria on your body and you will reduce food poisoning and infections for yourself and your family"

Starbucks is one of the largest food retailers in the U.S. to enforce these FDA guidelines for food safety and it is expected that more retailers will likely follow their lead in the coming year.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hygiene</span> Practices performed to preserve health

Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refers to maintaining the body's cleanliness. Hygiene activities can be grouped into the following: home and everyday hygiene, personal hygiene, medical hygiene, sleep hygiene and food hygiene. Home and every day hygiene includes hand washing, respiratory hygiene, food hygiene at home, hygiene in the kitchen, hygiene in the bathroom, laundry hygiene and medical hygiene at home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triclosan</span> Antimicrobial agent

Triclosan is an antibacterial and antifungal agent present in some consumer products, including toothpaste, soaps, detergents, toys, and surgical cleaning treatments. It is similar in its uses and mechanism of action to triclocarban. Its efficacy as an antimicrobial agent, the risk of antimicrobial resistance, and its possible role in disrupted hormonal development remains controversial. Additional research seeks to understand its potential effects on organisms and environmental health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sterilization (microbiology)</span> Process that eliminates all biological agents on an object or in a volume

Sterilization refers to any process that removes, kills, or deactivates all forms of life and other biological agents such as prions present in or on a specific surface, object, or fluid. Sterilization can be achieved through various means, including heat, chemicals, irradiation, high pressure, and filtration. Sterilization is distinct from disinfection, sanitization, and pasteurization, in that those methods reduce rather than eliminate all forms of life and biological agents present. After sterilization, an object is referred to as being sterile or aseptic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hand washing</span> Act of cleaning ones hands

Hand washing, also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning one's hands with soap or handwash and water to remove viruses/bacteria/microorganisms, dirt, grease, or other harmful and unwanted substances stuck to the hands. Drying of the washed hands is part of the process as wet and moist hands are more easily recontaminated. If soap and water are unavailable, hand sanitizer that is at least 60% (v/v) alcohol in water can be used as long as hands are not visibly excessively dirty or greasy. Hand hygiene is central to preventing the spread of infectious diseases in home and everyday life settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benzalkonium chloride</span> Surfactant and antiseptic agent

Benzalkonium chloride, also known as alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (ADBAC) and by the trade name Zephiran, is a type of cationic surfactant. It is an organic salt classified as a quaternary ammonium compound. ADBACs have three main categories of use: as a biocide, a cationic surfactant, and a phase transfer agent. ADBACs are a mixture of alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chlorides, in which the alkyl group has various even-numbered alkyl chain lengths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foodborne illness</span> Illness from eating spoiled food

Foodborne illness is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as prions, and toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts, poisonous mushrooms, and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surgical mask</span> Mouth and nose cover against bacterial aerosols

A surgical mask, also known by other names such as a medical face mask or procedure mask, is a personal protective equipment used by healthcare professionals that serves as a mechanical barrier that interferes with direct airflow in and out of respiratory orifices. This helps reduce airborne transmission of pathogens and other aerosolized contaminants between the wearer and nearby people via respiratory droplets ejected when sneezing, coughing, forceful expiration or unintentionally spitting when talking, etc. Surgical masks may be labeled as surgical, isolation, dental or medical procedure masks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hospital-acquired infection</span> Infection that is acquired in a hospital or other health care facility

A hospital-acquired infection, also known as a nosocomial infection, is an infection that is acquired in a hospital or other healthcare facility. To emphasize both hospital and nonhospital settings, it is sometimes instead called a healthcare-associated infection. Such an infection can be acquired in hospital, nursing home, rehabilitation facility, outpatient clinic, diagnostic laboratory or other clinical settings. A number of dynamic processes can bring contamination into operating rooms and other areas within nosocomial settings. Infection is spread to the susceptible patient in the clinical setting by various means. Healthcare staff also spread infection, in addition to contaminated equipment, bed linens, or air droplets. The infection can originate from the outside environment, another infected patient, staff that may be infected, or in some cases, the source of the infection cannot be determined. In some cases the microorganism originates from the patient's own skin microbiota, becoming opportunistic after surgery or other procedures that compromise the protective skin barrier. Though the patient may have contracted the infection from their own skin, the infection is still considered nosocomial since it develops in the health care setting. Nosocomial infection tends to lack evidence that it was present when the patient entered the healthcare setting, thus meaning it was acquired post-admission.

An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms (microbicide) or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals are used against fungi. They can also be classified according to their function. The use of antimicrobial medicines to treat infection is known as antimicrobial chemotherapy, while the use of antimicrobial medicines to prevent infection is known as antimicrobial prophylaxis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical glove</span> Single-use glove worn during medical examinations and procedures

Medical gloves are disposable gloves used during medical examinations and procedures to help prevent cross-contamination between caregivers and patients. Medical gloves are made of different polymers including latex, nitrile rubber, polyvinyl chloride and neoprene; they come unpowdered, or powdered with corn starch to lubricate the gloves, making them easier to put on the hands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staphylococcal enteritis</span> Medical condition

Staphylococcal enteritis is an inflammation that is usually caused by eating or drinking substances contaminated with staph enterotoxin. The toxin, not the bacterium, settles in the small intestine and causes inflammation and swelling. This in turn can cause abdominal pain, cramping, dehydration, diarrhea and fever.

Infection prevention and control is the discipline concerned with preventing healthcare-associated infections; a practical rather than academic sub-discipline of epidemiology. In Northern Europe, infection prevention and control is expanded from healthcare into a component in public health, known as "infection protection". It is an essential part of the infrastructure of health care. Infection control and hospital epidemiology are akin to public health practice, practiced within the confines of a particular health-care delivery system rather than directed at society as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hand sanitizer</span> Alternative to hand washing

Hand sanitizer is a liquid, gel or foam generally used to kill many viruses/bacteria/microorganisms on the hands. In most settings, hand washing with soap and water is generally preferred. Hand sanitizer is less effective at killing certain kinds of germs, such as norovirus and Clostridium difficile, and unlike hand washing, it cannot physically remove harmful chemicals. People may incorrectly wipe off hand sanitizer before it has dried, and some are less effective because their alcohol concentrations are too low.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hand dryer</span> Electric hand-drying machine

A hand dryer is an electric machine which might make use of a heating element and an air blower to dry the hands after hand washing. It is commonly used in public toilets as a cost-effective alternative to paper towels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food safety</span> Scientific discipline

Food safety is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food is known as a food-borne disease outbreak. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potential health hazards. In this way, food safety often overlaps with food defense to prevent harm to consumers. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry-to-market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market-to-consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer. Food safety, nutrition and food security are closely related. Unhealthy food creates a cycle of disease and malnutrition that affects infants and adults as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skin flora</span> Microbiota that reside on the skin

Skin flora, also called skin microbiota, refers to microbiota that reside on the skin, typically human skin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isolation (health care)</span> Measure taken to prevent contagious diseases from being spread

In health care facilities, isolation represents one of several measures that can be taken to implement in infection control: the prevention of communicable diseases from being transmitted from a patient to other patients, health care workers, and visitors, or from outsiders to a particular patient. Various forms of isolation exist, in some of which contact procedures are modified, and others in which the patient is kept away from all other people. In a system devised, and periodically revised, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), various levels of patient isolation comprise application of one or more formally described "precaution".

Green nail syndrome is an infection that can develop in individuals whose hands are frequently submerged in water resulting in green discolouration of the nails. It may also occur as transverse green stripes that are ascribed to intermittent episodes of infection. It is usually caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and is linked to hands being constantly moist or exposed to chemicals, or in individuals who have damaged or traumatised nails. There are several activities and nail injuries or conditions that are linked to higher risk of contracting the condition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prevention of viral hemorrhagic fever</span>

Prevention of viral hemorrhagic fever is similar for the different viruses. There are a number of different viral hemorrhagic fevers including Ebola virus disease, Lassa fever, Rift valley fever, Marburg virus disease, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) and yellow fever. Lassa, Ebola, Marburg and CCHF can be spread by direct contact with the body fluids of those infected. Thus the content here covers the prevention of Ebola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloth face mask</span> Mask made of common textiles worn over the mouth and nose

A cloth face mask is a mask made of common textiles, usually cotton, worn over the mouth and nose. When more effective masks are not available, and when physical distancing is impossible, cloth face masks are recommended by public health agencies for disease "source control" in epidemic situations to protect others from virus laden droplets in infected mask wearers' breath, coughs, and sneezes. Because they are less effective than N95 masks, surgical masks, or physical distancing in protecting the wearer against viruses, they are not considered to be personal protective equipment by public health agencies. They are used by the general public in household and community settings as protection against both infectious diseases and particulate air pollution.

References

  1. ↑ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 21002 Oct 25; 51 (RR-16).
  2. ↑ World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care. WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. ISBN   978 92 4 159790 6.
  3. ↑ Trick, WE, Vernon MO, Hayes RA, et al. Impact of ring wearing on hand contamination and comparison of hand hygiene agents in a hospital. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2003; 36:1383-1390.
  4. ↑ Hayes RA, Trick WE, Vernon MO, et al. Ring use as a risk factor (RF) for hand colonization in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU). Paper presented at 41st the Interscience Conference Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; 2001; December 16–19; Chicago, IL. Abstract K-1333.
  5. ↑ Salisbury D, Hutfilz P, Treen L, et al. The effect of rings in microbial load on healthcare workers' hands. Am J Infect Control. 1997; 25(1):24-27
  6. ↑ Hoffman, P Cooke E, McCarville M, Emmerson A. Micro-organisms isolated from skin under wedding rings worn by hospital staff. British Medical Journal. 1985;290(6463):206-207.
  7. ↑ Wongworawat MD, Jones SG. Influence of rings on the efficacy of hand sanitization and residual bacterial contamination. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2007; 28:351-353.
  8. ↑ U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Code (2009) Food Code, 2009 Recommendations of the United States Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, National Technical Information Service Publication PB2009-112613
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