LAUSR

Environmental contamination in intensive care units (ICU) plays a very important role in the transmission of pathogens like Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii). The healthcare professionals’ hand and glove contamination after contact with the patients and the environmental contamination is one of the mechanisms of usual transmission. Some studies have shown that patients hospitalized in a room previously occupied by a patient colonized/infected by multiresistant microorganisms (MRM) have a much higher risk of acquiring one of these pathogens than a patient hospitalized in a room whose prior occupant was not colonized/infected. The terminal decontamination that is usually conducted after a patient is discharged from the hospital is not enough. This has been proven in various studies that confirm that up to 50 per cent of the room surfaces cannot be adequately decontaminated. In order to reduce environmental contamination several methods of disinfection have been developed using hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet light. Due to the existence of multiple machines and medical equipment, the process of decontaminating an ICU examination room is a hard task that is loaded with obstacles, and almost impossible to accomplish thoroughly in a short period of time. In high-volume centres----with permanent and urgent change of patients, carrying out this thorough decontamination process becomes nearly impossible, which gradually increases the bacterial load favouring the transmission of microorganisms. This added to the specific characteristics of critical patients, the difficulties trying to observe the strict/permanent hand washing protocols, and the lack of scrupulous observance in the isolation of