Identification and resistance profile of bacteria isolated on stethoscopes by health care professionals: Systematic review

• Published in: American journal of infection control 2021-02, Vol.49 (2), p.229-237
• Main Authors: Queiroz Júnior, José Reginaldo Alves de, Melo, Isadora Oliveira, Calado, Gustavo Henrique dos Santos, Cavalcanti, Leila Raulino Camara, Sobrinho, Carlos Roberto Weber
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cross infection; Equipment contamination; Nosocomial infection
• ISSN: 0196-6553; 1527-3296
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.07.007

•Systematic review compared stethoscopes’ ability to transmit cross-infections.•Stethoscope cleaning correlates with risk of infection and adverse events.•Intensive Care Unit was the unit with the most contaminated stethoscopes. Evaluate the presence of bacteria and resistance profile in stethoscopes used by health care professionals and its consequences within the hospital environment. It is a systematic review, in which articles indexed in the BVS, CAPES-Periódicos, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scientific Electronic Library Online, and ScienceDirect databases were searched. Twenty-two articles were selected for this study. The significant majority of professionals does not perform hygiene of the stethoscope, either due to the lack of instructions or the lack of knowledge about the contamination's risks. In addition, over these 22 articles evaluated, only 10 demonstrated that more than 50% of the analyzed samples were contaminated with some type of bacteria. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most recurrent pathogens. Besides that, multiresistant strains were also isolated, highlighting resistance to Ampicillin and Clindamycin. Indeed, the stethoscope is a potential disseminator of bacterial infections. The contamination is explained by the possible cross reactions that make the transmission of infectious agents possible. Cleaning before and after each auscultate is an efficient alternative to minimize these pathogens.