title: Microbial flora of hands of homemakers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because of increasing concern about antimicrobial resistance in the community, aerobic flora of hands of 224 healthy homemakers in northern Manhattan, New York, were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean log colony-forming unit counts before and after handwashing were 5.72 and 5.69, respectively, P =.60; mean number of species identified/sample was 3.6 before washing and 3.3 after (P =.02). After handwashing gram-negative bacteria were isolated from 75.1% of subjects; yeast from 32.9%; and Staphylococcus aureus from 18.5%, 1 of which (2.4%) was oxacillin-resistant. Generally, these community isolates were more sensitive than isolates from inpatients in the local hospital, although community isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were significantly more resistant than inpatient isolates for 4/10 agents tested.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hands of healthy persons in the community were usually colonized with gram-negative bacteria, a single handwash had little impact on microbial counts, and hands of healthy adults may increasingly become one reservoir for antimicrobial resistance.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Elaine L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: Cabilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gomez-Duarte
authors.forename: Lillian V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Phyllis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Della-Latta
authors.forename: D James
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kain
authors.forename: Bruce H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Keswick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D005260:Female; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006225:Hand / Q000382:microbiology*; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000592:standards*; D006704:Homemaker Services; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents