Germ danger could start with fake fingernails

Web posted November 9, 1999

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By Sandra G. Boodman
The Washington Post

It seems there's another threat to hospitalized patients besides those germy stethoscopes and doctors who don't wash their hands between patients: nurses and other health-care workers who wear artificial fingernails.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., found that nurses sporting those fake accoutrements were more likely to harbor potentially harmful bacteria and yeast on their nails than those with natural fingernails.

The research team, led by S.A. McNeil, compared 21 nurses who wore fake nails with 20 who did not. They found that 73 percent of nurses with artificial nails tested positive for the presence of various bacteria, including staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of hospital-acquired infection, compared with 32 percent of nurses who did not wear artificial nails.

After both groups washed their hands with an antibacterial soap or a waterless, alcohol-based gel cleaner, the fake-nail wearers still were considerably more likely to retain bacteria. Sixty-eight percent of nurses who wore fake nails continued to harbor bacteria on their hands, compared to 26 percent of nurses who did not.

The study was presented last month at the annual meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.