AURISCOPE EARPIECES AS POSSIBLE VECTORS O F INFECTION MICROBIOLOGICALSURVEY AND STUDY OF PHYSICIANS HABITS

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.