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Infectious diseases in soap?

Hello!.

Well I'd like to ask wether if, by any chance, can infectious diseases can be transmitted by liquid soap? (If they can survive in it that is).

I am just a little bit paranoid about this so I just had to ask.

See I am a Medicine student (Living in Mexico), currently in 2nd semester and I've started going to the ER to practice stitching. The other day a patient came with a very small cut on his leg and only needed 1 stitch so the Doctor (under his supervision) allowed me to perform a unique stitch on this patient. Long story short, everything was done properly I had gloves, everything was sterilized, etc, etc... Then when I was finished, the Doctor sent me to wash the material I had used, not knowingly I assumed the hard part was over and proceded to wash the material I had used (this being just the scissors to cut the nylon and the "tweezers" to hold the nail) without gloves, hence I had never washed it before. (And I was kind of unwaare or just not thining about the risks of having contact with biologycal fluids).

Now I'm possitive there was practiaclly no blood in the instruments and also I only touched the from the most "proximal" area, not anyway near the end (whereas that part of the tweezers could have been in touch with tissue or blood) with my bare hands and then proceeded to use a brush to get the "farest" area.

I'd also like to note that the "equipment" (only 2 items were used as stated above) had been on the tray for a few minutes (around 5 or 10 ish) (I like to think that this can also inactivate some viruses i.e HIV ).

I had no cuts on my hands nor my nails were "too short" at the time.

From the little and humble knowledge I've acquired during this year studiyng I know that most viruses will become inactive just by being exposed outside the body even if the do not have a capside.

So my questions are:

Is there any chance that I could contract any type of viruses by having contact with the surgycal equipment if I didnt have gloves on?

If stick my hand in the soap were you'd usually just sink the brush to get soap and the brush off the equipment to later apply it on the bad *** steril solution, could any type of virus survive being in that soap, that could've been in contact with my skin after I grabbed some of that soap with my bare hands? / Could having my hands covered in soap when touching the instruments, helped me in any way cretaing a more hostile enviroment for any virus/bacteria when touching the equipment?

I know I might be overreacting to this situation but I just can't get this out of my mind, hoping to see someone elses point of view on this.

Also sorry for any "weird" terms being used here, English is not my mother language so if something is unclear, please state so and I'll explain even further what I mean.

Thanks in advance.
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1415174 tn?1453243103
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi and I think you question is very valid.  Actually bacteria can live on a bar of soap but not likely on liquid soap.

But, the chance of getting an infection from a bar of soap is very unlikely. It is about 0.01%. This article below shows that they actually inoculated a bar of soap with a pretty high concentration of bacteria and then people washed their hands with it and didn't  even get the bacteria on their hands.

So for you getting an infection I wouldn't worry about it.  Yes it is better to wash with a pump type soap than a bar of soap to be sure. I haven't seen that you can get an infection from a liquid pump type of soap. So I think you are fine.

In conclusion, I wouldn't worry about your current situation since you had no cuts on your hands. Also, you used a liquid soap and that is safer than a bar soap. See links below.

Regards,
mkh9
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3402545

http://www.cdc.gov/OralHealth/infectioncontrol/faq/hand.htm

http://www.health.state.mn.us/handhygiene/how/bestsoap.html
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Well now that's alot I didn't know about soap hehe... I actually used to think that a bar of soap would be safer because of micelles.

Well that takes alot off my mind, I was panicking a bit because that soap could've had contact with many types of blood, but your articles do make a pretty good point.

Thanks alot mkh9!!!.
Helpful - 0
1415174 tn?1453243103
COMMUNITY LEADER
You are welcome. Yes it is much about soap! Good luck with your career. It is good to know the basics to protect yourself and the patient.
mkh9
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1415174 tn?1453243103
COMMUNITY LEADER
P.s. Even treated tap water can have Pseudomonas in it. It is not sterile water.so I assume you probably scrub with iodine after washing before doing surgery. It has been a while since I have gone into a pre-op area etc. Last one!

But this is a good link;
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/725336_7
mkh9
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Avatar universal
I do wash my hands with some type of soap, remeber seeing in the label  "glyceraldehyde 2% (it's a green solution)", I'm still not really sure what that might be hehe.

Nice article! It is really good to know that ione based solution are a must. I promise you I'll check the compenents of the solution we use.

P.s. Props to you for being a microbiologist!!, that is without a doubt the hardest topic I've taken hehe.

Rest assured I'll be more carefull next time for the sake of my well being and my patients!.

Thanks again mk9!

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