A new study suggests your doctor's stethoscope may make you sick!
University of Pennsylvania researchers examined 40 stethoscopes used in one ICU and found they were all contaminated with numerous bacteria, including the one that causes staph infections.
And the way a doctor cleans the device may not be doing any good: Doctors cleaned 20 using their preferred method while 10 were cleaned using the recommended hydrogen peroxide wipes. Only two of the ones cleaned by doctors had reduced the contamination to what is found on a new stethoscope, while the wipes lowered the bacteria to the clean level on half.
Researchers say they do not know if any patient became ill due to the stethoscopes and additional research is needed.
The doctors preferred methods included the use of alcohol swabs, hydrogen peroxide wipes, or bleach swabs for different durations, The CDC recommended method is using hydrogen peroxide wipes for 60 seconds.