title: Frequency of contamination of single-patient-use nebulizers over time.
abstract: Adult hospitalized patients with cystic fibrosis commonly receive nebulized medications. For single-patient-use nebulizers that are cleaned after each use, there is infrequent nebulizer contamination (0%-11%) with only low numbers of epidemiologically important pathogens (less than 100 colony-forming units), and this contamination is similar after 24, 48, and 72 hours of use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Epidemiology, University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Care, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Maria F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Gergen
authors.forename: Emily E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Sickbert-Bennett
authors.forename: Kathleen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Short
authors.forename: Kendra E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Lanza-Kaduce
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Rutala
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000628:therapy*; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009330:Nebulizers and Vaporizers / Q000382:microbiology*; D009657:North Carolina; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012138:Respiratory Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*