BACKGROUND Documenting effective approaches to eliminate environmental reservoirs and reduce the spread of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has been difficult. This was a prospective study to determine if hospital-wide implementation of a disinfectant cleaner in a disposable wipe system to replace a cleaner alone could reduce HAIs over 1 year when housekeeping compliance was ≥80%. METHODS ...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in collaboration with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, characterized the environments of young children (<6 years) by measuring lead, allergens, and pesticides in a randomly selected nationally representative sample of licensed institutional child care centers. Multi-stage sampling wit...

In this review, we examine house dust and residential soil and their use for identifying sources and the quantifying levels of toxicants for the estimation of exposure. We answer critical questions that focus on the selection of samples or sampling strategies for collection and discuss areas of uncertainty and gaps in knowledge. We discuss the evolution of dust sampling with a special emphasis ...

Regular tobacco use in the enclosed environment of a car raises concerns about longer-term contamination of a car's microenvironment with residual secondhand smoke pollutants. This study (a) developed and compared methods to measure residual contamination of cars with secondhand smoke, (b) examined whether cars of smokers and nonsmokers were contaminated by secondhand smoke, and (c) how smoking...

Recent developments have seen the closure of P2P sites such as Kazaa and Napster due to legal action, and a subsequent rise in the use of alternative file-sharing software, namely BitTorrent. This research in progress aims to evaluate the effectiveness of commercial programs to erase traces of the use of such software. The erasure programs Privacy Suite, Window Washer and R-Clean and Wipe were ...

PURPOSE A preliminary investigation was conducted to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two closed-system products in preventing contamination of typical pharmacy workplace surfaces with cyclophosphamide during simulated hazardous drug preparation activities in a controlled laboratory setting. METHODS Two separate trials simulating hazardous drug compounding using cyclophosphamide were...

We present highly sensitive, reliable methods for the determination of platinum originating from carboplatin in canine sebum and cerumen. The methods are based on the measurement of platinum by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and allow quantification of 0.15 pg platinum per cm² body surface in canine sebum and of 7.50 pg platinum per sampled ear canal. The sample pretreatment proce...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as flame retardants in furniture foam, electronics, and other home furnishings. A field study was conducted that enrolled 139 households from California, which has had more stringent flame retardant requirements than other countries and areas. The study collected passive air, floor and indoor window surface wipes, and dust samples (investigator co...

/ This paper reports an assessment of various methods for sampling particulate surface contami^ nation for use in the field. The results from the study will be used to develop guidance for monitoring particulate surface contamination in the workplace. Three types of adhesive tape, two manual and two 'semi-automatic' wipe methods, and one Smair method were assessed. A field assessment of selecte...

BACKGROUND The rise in health care-associated infections has placed a greater emphasis on cleaning and disinfection practices. The majority of policies advocate using detergent-based products for routine cleaning, with detergent wipes increasingly being used; however, there is no information about their ability to remove and subsequently transfer pathogens in practice. METHODS Seven detergent...