[Chronic wound care leads to the bacterial contamination of the environment]

The aim of this study was to determine levels of bacterial contamination of the environment during chronic wound dressing changes.

Sampling of chronic wounds and of the environment (air and surfaces) was performed during changing of chronic wound dressing. A series of samples was defined as the entire sample for a given day for a given patient. Five sequential samples of air and six samples of surfaces were taken for each series. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and enterobacteria were specifically cultured.

Thirty series of samples were taken for 26 different patients. Twenty-seven out of these 30 series were colonized with one or two of the target species. For 13 series of the latter samples (13/27, 48.1%), bacteria isolated from the wound were recovered in the environment, namely S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The six enterobacteria isolated from wounds were not retrieved in the environment. Air samples were more often positive than surfaces samples.

We demonstrated frequent contamination of the hospital environment with bacteria colonizing wounds during dressing changes. This indicates that wearing of masks and hand disinfection after contact with the environment constitute key measures in the control of bacterial cross-transmission.