Insects in Hospitals: Definite Ick, Unclear Risk
Cockroaches, beg bugs, and flies do not belong in hospitals or other medical facilities. “Depending on how you stratify the risk, we could close the whole thing down and re-sterilize everything, or we have to figure out a way to keep moving while also protecting patients. The challenge here was there is really not good evidence on its reach to the patient.”Stroever described the scenario at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology conference in 2024.
- ▪Cockroaches, beg bugs, and flies do not belong in hospitals or other medical facilities.
- ▪“Depending on how you stratify the risk, we could close the whole thing down and re-sterilize everything, or we have to figure out a way to keep moving while also protecting patients.
- ▪The challenge here was there is really not good evidence on its reach to the patient.”Stroever described the scenario at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology conference in 2024.
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Cockroaches, beg bugs, and flies do not belong in hospitals or other medical facilities. But clinicians do encounter them — hitchhiking on patients’ clothes, scurrying across the floor, and, according to a survey of pest control professionals, in operating rooms and even an MRI scanner .When these critters are found, they can pose clinical dilemmas.For example, can a patient undergo cataract surgery if they are found to have bed bugs when they arrive for their appointment?Can cockroaches transmit antibiotic-resistant bacteria between patient rooms?If drain flies are discovered in a hospital’s sterile core, do all the surgical supplies require reprocessing?Infection preventionists and physicians who have confronted these questions firsthand have shared their experiences with colleagues to…
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