Experts have said that air conditioning and the ultra-sterile environment in places like hospitals may actually contribute to infections.
Experts have said that air conditioning and the ultra-sterile environment in places like hospitals may actually contribute to infections. Friendly bacteria found outdoors could be recruited to fend off the potentially deadly microbes that cause hospital-acquired infections, according to Jack Gilbert of Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago and head of the Earth Microbiome Project, a global database of microbial species, The Independent reported Monday.
He said the idea is supported by a study showing that open windows influence the composition of microbial communities found on handles and surfaces, but did not increase the numbers of dangerous pathogens - the sort of antibiotic-resistant superbugs which infect patients.
'Open windows let bacteria in from outside and you will either dilute out the pathogens, or you are not allowing the pathogens to establish themselves because there is too much competition for the nutrients and energy that the bacteria need to survive,' Gilbert told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Source-IANS