F. Besnier et al., AURISCOPE EARPIECES AS POSSIBLE VECTORS O F INFECTION MICROBIOLOGICALSURVEY AND STUDY OF PHYSICIANS HABITS, Medecine et maladies infectieuses, 27(2), 1997, pp. 93-99
The aim of this study is: - firstly, to describe the organisms culture
d from auriscope earpieces used by general practitioners, ENT, paediat
rics, and emergency unit specialists, - secondly, to assess those phys
icians' awareness of possible cross infection from contaminated aurisc
ope earpieces, - thirdly, to collect data on how their auriscope earpi
eces are cleaned. A microbiological survey was carried out among gener
al practitioners, ENT, paediatrics, and emergency unit specialists liv
ing in ''La Martinique'', French Western Indies. 145 auriscope earpiec
es were collected, and a semistructured questionnaire was sent to and
followed by a phone interview with 182 physicians selected by systemat
ic sampling method, A wide range of organisms were cultured from over
a third of these earpieces. 35 % of earpieces ready for use were conta
minated. 82.5 % of the physicians mentioned using disposable earpieces
with several patients, acknowledging their lack of information, Clean
ing methods were often ineffective, Only commonly used an adequate tec
hnique to clean their non-disposable earpieces between each patients,
67.1 % of the general practitioners never cleaned earpieces between pa
tients. Besides those of ENT specialists, nearly all answers showed th
at physicians did not think earpieces were clean enough, All believed
that contaminated auriscope earpieces could cause serious infection. C
onclusion: A large part of auriscope earpieces were contaminated by po
tential pathogens, Although practitioners suspected this, most did not
ensure that a clean earpiece was used for every patient, Information
on disposable earpieces, and guidelines on the most appropriate cleani
ng technique are required.