CSI Techniques Could Help Battle Against Hospital Infections

Inspired by the popular television drama CSI, investigators in the Netherlands have trialed methods used by forensic scientists at crime scenes to highlight infection risks in their hospital.

Television watchers have become familiar with crime scene investigation methods thanks to popular TV shows such as CSI. Now a research team at Deventer Hospital in the Netherlands is experimenting with the use of Luminol which is used to detect blood traces. The press release says that the research was conducted in the hospital’s haemodialysis unit. CSI regulars will be familiar with Luminol which reacts with microscopic amounts of blood to produce bright blue luminescence and allows investigators to track invisible blood splashes in the environment. The results of this experiment are reported in a new study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection. The researchers tested Devnter’s apparently clean unit with Luminol. They found traces of blood on many surfaces including cupboard handles, telephones, computer keyboards, side tables and the floor, even though some of these surfaces had been cleaned. The team expects that these results can be reproduced in other hospitals that plan to use Luminol in the future as described in their paper. It is possible that Luminol could be used as part of a hospital infection control regimen, in order to highlight risks associated with the contamination of the hospital environment with blood. The team discusses the possibility that the hepatitis C virus may be transmitted via such environmental contamination. Corresponding author Dr Paul Bergervoet of Deventer Ziekenhuis commented: “The aim of this article is to introduce this method to the infection control professionals so it can be used to monitor cleaning and disinfection procedures and alert healthcare workers to the possibility of contamination of the hospital environment with blood.”