Drug-resistant bacteria grows in hospital drain pipes before migrating towards the sink strainer, where they can splatter around the area and infect patients, researchers found.
Writing in , the authors used a "designated hand-washing sink lab gallery" to simulate conditions of a hospital sink. They modeled dispersion of Escheria coli from the sink waste-water to the surrounding environment, finding that E. coli did not directly disperse into the sink basin or the counter-top when the water was run. Instead, the bacteria colonized in the elbows of the drain pipes for about a week before growing large enough to infect the sink strainer.
Researchers are now conducting a follow-up study in collaboration with the CDC to determine the exact mode of transmission of these bacteria to hospitalized patients.