Potential bloodborne pathogen exposure from occult mattress damage

Susan L Bradbury; Deborah Mack; Terri Crofts; Richard T Ellison 3rd

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2013.10.011

Potential bloodborne pathogen exposure from occult mattress damage

Am J Infect Control. 2014 Apr;42(4):421-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.10.011. Epub 2014 Feb 20.

Authors

Susan L Bradbury¹, Deborah Mack², Terri Crofts², Richard T Ellison 3rd²

Affiliations

¹ University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, MA. Electronic address: bradburs@ummhc.org.
² University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, MA.

PMID: 24559597
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.10.011

Abstract

A near-miss patient incident involving body fluid seeping from a mattress led to a visual inspection of 656 hospital bed mattresses of which 177 were contaminated because of occult damage to mattress covers.

Keywords: Fluid.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Beds*
Blood-Borne Pathogens / isolation & purification*
Body Fluids*
Environmental Exposure*
Humans
Male