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Availability of Automatic Water Tap in Hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2015

Sora Yasri*
Affiliation:
KMT Primary Care Center, BangkokThailand
Viroj Wiwanitkit
Affiliation:
Hainan Medical University, China Faculty of Medicine, University of Nis, Serbia Joseph Ayobabalola University, Nigeria Dr D. Y. Patil Medical University, Pimpri, Maharashtra, India.
*
Address correspondence to Sora Yasri, MD, KMT Primary Care Center, Bangkok, Thailand (sorayasri@outlook.co.th).
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Abstract

Type
Letters to the Editor
Copyright
© 2015 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

To the Editor—Pathogens can contaminate the environment and cause infections. In hospitals, contamination of the environment is frequent and expected. Toilets in hospitals are an area of concern. The high contamination rates of toilet tap handles or levers for manual flushing are reported in many publications.Reference Casey, Adams and Karpanen 1 , Reference Bellamy, Laban, Barrett and Talbot 2 Toilet seats and handles are commonly found to be contaminated.Reference Casey, Adams and Karpanen 1 A good “toilet design” is proposed that could help control the spread of nosocomial infection.Reference Breathnach, Cubbon, Karunaharan, Pope and Planche 3 To reduce the problem of contamination, toilets with hands-free automatic flushing mechanisms or water taps have been available for a few years. Here, the authors report a field survey of 180 toilets from 25 hospitals in Bangkok, Thailand. According to the survey, automatic hands-free flushing mechanisms were available in 65 toilets (36.1%). Most of the toilets studied lacked automatic water taps and classic toilet tap handles are still in use. The findings are potentially important and not just of local interest. Numerous hospitals in many countries in the world may still use manual flushing mechanisms. Promotion of the automatic water tap in hospitals will help improve hand hygiene in healthcare workers, visitors, and patients and may help reduce the problem of possible pathogen transmission.

Acknowledgments

Financial support. None reported.

Potential conflicts of interest. Both authors report no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.

References

1. Casey, AL, Adams, D, Karpanen, TJ, et al. Role of copper in reducing hospital environment contamination. J Hosp Infect 2010;74:7277.Google Scholar
2. Bellamy, K, Laban, KL, Barrett, KE, Talbot, DC. Detection of viruses and body fluids which may contain viruses in the domestic environment. Epidemiol Infect 1998;121:673680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Breathnach, AS, Cubbon, MD, Karunaharan, RN, Pope, CF, Planche, TD. Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa outbreaks in two hospitals: association with contaminated hospital wastewater systems. J Hosp Infect 2012;82:1924.Google Scholar