Bacteria Causing Top HAI Commonly Found on Bottom of Shoes

Offering another reason why frequent floor cleaning is important, the bacteria Clostridium difficile (C.diff) was found on almost half of shoe soles tested in a recent study, Medpage Today reports.

The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, was released last week at ID Week, the annual joint meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, HIV Medicine Association, and Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists.

Researchers conducted a worldwide analysis of more than 11,500 collected isolates. They evaluated 11,986 environmentally isolated swabs from health care settings, public areas, and shoe soles.

The researchers found similar C. diff. positivity rates in health care (23% outdoors and 17% in buildings) and non-health care settings (24% outdoors and 17% in buildings). They found the highest C. diff positivity rate (45%) on shoe soles.

“I think these results opened our eyes on the importance of bringing infection control and surveillance of C. diff to the community as well as the hospital setting,” said Jinhee Jo, a researcher at the University of Houston in Texas.

Study co-author Kevin Garey, also of the University of Houston, noted that C. diff is the most common health care-associated infection (HAI). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates nearly half a million C. diff infections occur annually in the U.S.

“We can no longer think of C. diff as only existing in health care settings, and the population at risk is no longer just the very sick patient in the hospital,” Garey said. “Identifying that person at risk anywhere in the world should become a priority regardless of whether the person is in a hospital or the community.”