Environmental and human health impact of contact precaution use for methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and vancomycin-resistant <i>Enterococcus</i> in Los Angeles County
In LA County, contact precautions for methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and vancomycin-resistant <i>Enterococcus</i> require 7.3 million gowns annually generating 506 tons of plastic waste and 1.73 million kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents, which cause the loss of 4.07 disability-adjusted life-years. Unintended consequences of gown use necessitates exploration of infection prevention alternatives.
Authors
- Loren Gregory Miller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0487-1711)
- Maryse Lebrun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0962-0156)
- Ami N. Shah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1210-3117)
- Pamela Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9058-529X)
- Cassandra L. Thiel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1875-886X)
- Kelsey OYong
- Zachary Rubin
Institutions
- Rush University Medical Center (US)
- Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (US)
- Foundation for Biomedical Research (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- UCLA Medical Center (US)
- Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (US)
- NYU Langone Health (US)
- Hinge Health (US)
- Sustainable Innovation (Sweden) (SE)
- Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (US)
- ABS Consulting (United States) (US)
- Harbor–UCLA Medical Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
- Published
- 2025-11-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2025.10338
- Primary Topic
- Infection Control in Healthcare
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Kimberly-Clark
- Stryker
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University