Health News -- Could plain soap and probiotics beat hospital bugs?

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Could plain soap and probiotics beat hospital bugs?

Doctors might be better off washing their hands with yoghurt instead of

relying on antiseptic soap-scrubbing, according to a new discussion paper

by a UCL (University College London) researcher.

Scientists should investigate whether saturating the skin with 'good'

bacteria would offer better protection against deadly germs, says the

paper. Professor Mark Spigelman, of the UCL Centre for Infectious Diseases

and International Health, is calling for a study to be set up in hospital

units in which antibiotics would be banned, to explore alternative health

protection measures against MRSA.

In the paper, published in the November issue of ls of the Royal

College of Surgeons, Professor Spigelman says the time has come to

re-evaluate the concept of using antibiotics and scrubbing hands and wounds

with antiseptic soaps. His paper outlines a six-point proposal to set up

surgical hospitals which would be antibiotic-free and would instead comply

with the novel standard practices being investigated.

Professor Mark Spigelman says: " Inappropriate use of antibiotics remains a

major problem, despite our ever-growing understanding of how bacteria

behave. For example, any student who has grown bacteria in a lab will know

that they generally do not grow on top of one another. So when we wash our

hands, we could actually be killing off harmless commensals to the extent

that we leave space for other bacteria, such as MRSA strains, to settle.

" Perhaps we should be thinking about using probiotics and even dipping our

hands after thorough washing into a solution which contains harmless

bacteria, which could then colonise our skin and prevent pathogenic

bacteria from settling on it.

" It must be remembered that after almost 40 years, MRSA has not become

widespread except in hospitals where we use the most advanced antibiotics

and most rigorous antiseptic measures. Why is this? More of the same does

not seem to be working – new antibiotics and antibacterial soaps have not

stopped MRSA.

" The idea may sound absurd, but I believe that a probiotic cleaning

procedure is an avenue worth exploring. To overcome the current epidemic of

MRSA and other bacteria, we should aim to set up a handful of hospitals

where the use of antibiotics would be banned, and any patients who needed

them would be transferred to an antibiotic-using hospital. Doctors from

these hospitals would not be allowed to enter hospitals which use antibiotics.

" At the same time we could trial the benefits of using 'good' bacteria to

saturate the skin on doctors' hands and even patients' wounds prior to

surgery, to see if this would prevent the settling of pathogenic,

antibiotic-resistant bacteria. For instance, a surgeon who has spent the

morning repeatedly scrubbing his or her hands in an operating theatre may

well have got rid of many harmless skin commensals. When the surgeon then

goes to the wards, the more virulent bacteria may settle into the areas

left vacant. As a first step, the surgeon could use probiotics to try and

prevent this sequence of events, for example by dipping their hands into a

probiotic substance such as yoghurt. "

From http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/ucl-cps103105.php

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