The figure shows the transmission of microbes in a schematic way.
The core elements of microbe transmission by the are:
- Donor surface ’A’ contains microbes ‘a’
E.g. : the patient’s skin, the bed(linen) of the patient, bedside table, …
- Receptor surface ‘B’ contains microbes ‘b’
E.g.: skin/body part of another patient, medical equipment of another patient
- A hand picks up a micro-organism ‘a’ from donor surface ‘A’ and carries it over to receptor surface ‘B’, no hand hygiene action is performed.
- Receptor surface ‘B’ is now cross-contaminated with microorganism ‘a’ in addition to original flora ‘b’.
- The patient and/or his/her environment has now been infected with microbes and this can possibly cause a healthcare associated infection.
Source : My five moments for hand hygiene (H. Sax - Journal of hospital infection 2007)