As far as I am aware, no study has been done to compare the number of infections in patient population treated by physicians who wear ties and those who do not. A study has been done to compare the number of times S. aureus could be cultured from the neckties of physicians versus the neckties of security guards. About 50% of the physician ties and 10% of the security guard ties grew bacteria. It's not a direct linkage between ties and disease, but it's close enough for my self-serving purpose.
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Study: Doctors' ties may be health threat
Neckwear can harbor disease-carrying bugs
By Roni Rabin
Newsday Staff Writer
May 24, 2004, 3:39 PM EDT
New research suggests doctors should dress down, and not just on Fridays. A small study of neckties worn by doctors at a Queens hospital found almost half the 42 ties tested harbored microorganisms that can cause illness. By comparison, only one of ten ties worn by security guards tested positive for a disease-carrying microorganism. The study is being presented Monday at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in New Orleans. Steven Nurkin, one of the authors, says the findings aren't entirely new:
Earlier studies have found bacteria on everything from doctors' stethoscopes to pagers and pens. But there's a critical difference, said Nurkin, who graduates from medical school in two weeks: Neckties need to be dry cleaned.
"Most people don't do that every time they wear a tie," he said. "You come home and throw the tie on your tie rack and a week or so later, you wear it again. It's rarely clean." Nurkin, a native of Brooklyn studying medicine in Israel, said he got the idea for the research while doing a surgery elective at the New York Hospital-Queens. He noticed the doctors' neckties because in Israel, physicians rarely wear ties.
"I watched the doctors come over for a physical exam or procedure and saw the neckties would swing in front of the patient's face, or patients would cough on them," he said. Occasionally a doctor would wash his hands -- and then adjust his tie, Nurkin said. "I thought: maybe that's a point of interest." Nurkin emphasized the ties tested did not harbor any multi-drug resistant bacteria, but said, "The potential is there."
Of the 42 physician neckties sampled, 20 contained one or more microorganisms known to cause disease, including 12 that carried Staphylococcus aureus, five a gram negative bacteria, one that carried aspergillus and two ties that carried multiple pathogens. Staph bacteria, which often live harmlessly on the skin, can cause serious wound infections; Aspergillus, a mold, is an opportunistic infection that threatens vulnerable patients. Gram negative bacteria refers to a type of staining in the lab.
Of the 10 security guards' ties, only one grew Staphylococcus aureus. Some 5 to 10 percent of all hospital patients acquire an infection in the hospital, which translates into over 2 million infections, 90,000 deaths and over $4.5 billion in annual costs, the study notes.
While being well-dressed is encouraged by hospital administrators and may add to "an aura of professionalism" and inspire patient confidence, the authors note, "As the clinician moves from patient to patient, the tie may serve to carry microorganisms from patient to patient as well." Physicians may also unwittingly carry microbes from the hospital into the community. "This study brings into question whether wearing a necktie is in the best interest of our patients," the authors conclude.
Nurkin, 27, graduates in two weeks from medical school at the American-Technion Program of the Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine in Haifa, Israel.
