Can Cell Phones Carry Contamination? Study Shows They Can

Though veterinarians and horse owners and managers often practice strict biosecurity protocols, including foot baths and glove changes between horses, a new study has shown that one kind of equipment is often overlooked as a harbinger of potential contamination: portable electronic devices.

It would be nearly impossible to run a business without a cell phone these days, and veterinarians are particularly wedded to their devices, which often include tablets to access patient records, calendars and more.

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Though it may seem that these devices would have little ability to carry contamination between horses, a British study has shown that it is possible for them to carry harmful organisms. Once a veterinarian taps or swipes on a device, he or she may then transfer the bacteria or virus to a patient he touches next.

Researchers at the University of Bristol small animal hospital found that 41 staff members used portable electronic devices every day inside the hospital. They swabbed and tested 47 devices for contamination. Staphylococci was found on 68 percent of the devices and more than one-third of isolated colonies were resistant to vancomycin and oxacillin.

Of the staff used in the study, 54 percent cleaned their devices with disinfectant; 21 percent cleaned them weekly or daily, but 44 percent never cleaned their devices at all.

The researchers conclude that portable electronic devices have the potential to become contaminated with harmful bacteria and should be disinfected at least once a day with an antimicrobial wipe or spray.

Read the paper here.

Read more at EquiManagement.

The post Can Cell Phones Carry Contamination? Study Shows They Can appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Ancient Remedy Shows Promise As Antimicrobial

Antimicrobial resistance is of great concern to those involved in equine health; multidrug resistance is posing a massive challenge to managing microbial infections. Infections that cause biofilms are even harder to resolve; it's estimated that biofilms require 100 to 1,000 times higher antibiotic concentrations that non-biofilm-producing bacterial infections.

Drs. Jessica Furner-Pardoe, Blessing Anonye, Ricky Cain, John Moat, Catherine Ortori, Christina Lee, David Barrett, Christophe Corre and Freya Harrison investigated the efficacy of a 1,000-year-old herbal remedy found in a 10th century Old English medical compendium. The remedy, called Bald's eye salve, consists of onion, garlic, dry white wine and bovine bile salts.

The team found that this topical remedy was useful against specific soft tissue wound pathogens. To create the salve, the scientists chopped and crushed the onions and garlic, and brewed them with wine and bile salts. They then stored the liquid in sterilized glass bottles at around 39 degrees Fahrenheit in the dark for nine days. The ingredients were then strained and centrifuged to obtain a liquid that was filtered and stored in the same sterilized glass bottles.

When tested against wounds that contained MRSA, Bald's eye salve obtained a 90 percent bacterial kill and was comparable to vancomycin. The medication didn't cause damage to either human cells in the laboratory or to mice.

The combination of all the ingredients is what makes it effective against biofilms. If any ingredient is left out, the preparation is not effective.

Read the full article here.

Read more at EquiManagement.

The post Ancient Remedy Shows Promise As Antimicrobial appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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