Heart & lung : the journal of critical care
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Heart Lung
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Contaminated respiratory therapy equipment may be responsible for the spread of pathogens to hospital patients. This study focused on the potential for contamination of prefilled, sterile, disposable water and saline systems for humidification and nebulization. ⋯ A total of six or 3.84% of the nebulizer samples showed contamination with Enterobacter cloacae after 8 to 24 hours of operation. It was concluded that the potential for contamination of the humidifiers is low for up to 72 hours, but the nebulizer units should be changed after 24 hours even though their contamination rate is markedly lower than that of conventional nondisposable units.