title: Addendum: Safety Standards for Gua sha (press-stroking) and Ba guan (cupping).
abstract: Our previous article Safety Standards for Gua sha (press-stroking) and Baguan (cupping) discussed the risk of transfer of blood-borne pathogens with Gua sha and Ba guan, identified Gua sha and Ba guan 'instrument criticality' as semi-critical and offered recommendations for safe practice based on hospital disinfection standards. Based on the article's feedback, we feel the need to clarify that Gua sha and Ba guan instruments, if intended for reuse, must undergo high level disinfection (HLD) or, in the case of 'wet-cupping', sterilization. We update our recommendations to be amenable to both private practice and education settings.
authors.affiliation: Integrative Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States. Electronic address: anielsen@chpnet.org.
authors.forename: Arya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Integrative Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kligler
authors.affiliation: Infection Prevention, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, United States.
authors.forename: Brian S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Koll
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards; D001815:Bloodletting / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards*; D012973:Sodium Hypochlorite; D013242:Sterilization
chemical_list: D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D012973:Sodium Hypochlorite
keywords: Ba guan; Baguan; Cao gio; Chinese medicine; Coining; Cupping; Gua sha; Guasha; High level disinfection; Integrative medicine; Safe practice; Scraping; Spooning; Traditional East Asian medicine