Infektionsträger
A fomes (pronounced Vorlage:IPAc-en) or fomite (Vorlage:IPAc-en) is any object or substance capable of carrying infectious organisms, such as germs or parasites, and hence transferring them from one individual to another. Skin cells, hair, clothing, and bedding are common hospital sources of contamination.
Fomites are associated particularly with hospital-acquired infections (HAI), as they are possible routes to pass pathogens between patients. Stethoscopes and neckties are two such fomites associated with health care providers. Basic hospital equipment, such as IV drip tubes, catheters, and life support equipment can also be carriers, when the pathogens form biofilms on the surfaces. Careful sterilization of such objects prevents cross-infection.
Researchers have discovered that smooth (non-porous) surfaces like door knobs transmit bacteria and viruses better than porous materials like paper money because porous, especially fibrous, materials absorb and trap the contagion, making it harder to contract through simple touch.[1][2]
Etymology
The Italian scholar and physician Girolamo Fracastoro appears to have first used the Latin word fomes, meaning tinder, in this sense in his essay on contagion, De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis published in 1546:[3] "By fomes I mean clothes, wooden objects, and things of that sort, which though not themselves corrupted can, nevertheless, preserve the original germs of the contagion and infect by means of these".[4]
English usage of "fomes", pronounced Vorlage:IPAc-en, is documented since 1658.[5] The English word "fomite", which has been in use since 1859, is a back-formation from the plural "fomites" (originally borrowed from the Latin plural fōmĭtēs Vorlage:IPA-la of fōmĕs Vorlage:IPA-la).[6] The English-language pronunciation of "fomites" is Vorlage:IPAc-en, while the singular, "fomite", is pronounced Vorlage:IPAc-en.[6][7]
In popular culture
Fomites play a conspicuous role in Steven Soderbergh's 2011 film Contagion about a pandemic.[8]
See also
References
External links
- ↑ F. X. Abad, R. M. Pintó, A. Bosch: Survival of enteric viruses on environmental fomites. In: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 60. Jahrgang, Nr. 10, Oktober 1994, S. 3704–10, PMID 7986043, PMC 201876 (freier Volltext).
- ↑ Theodore W. Pope, Peter T. Ender, William K. Woelk, Michael A. Koroscil, Thomas M. Koroscil: Bacterial contamination of paper currency. In: Southern Medical Journal. 95. Jahrgang, Nr. 12, Dezember 2002, S. 1408–10, doi:10.1097/00007611-200295120-00011, PMID 12597308.
- ↑ Vivian Nutton: The Reception of Fracastoro's Theory of Contagion: The Seed That Fell among Thorns? In: Osiris. 2nd Series, Vol. 6, Renaissance Medical Learning: Evolution of a Tradition. Jahrgang. University of Chicago Press, 1990, S. 196–234, doi:10.1086/368701, JSTOR:301787.
- ↑ Girolamo Fracastoro, Translated by Wright, Wilmer C.: Milestones in Microbiology. Hrsg.: Brock, Thomas D. Prentice-Hall International, 1961, Contagion, contagious diseases and their treatment (1546), S. 69–75 (archive.org [abgerufen am 10. August 2013]).
- ↑ Vorlage:OED
- ↑ a b Vorlage:OED
- ↑ Vorlage:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ John Horn: Word of Mouth: 'Contagion' could really catch on In: Los Angeles Times, 8 September 2011. Abgerufen im 12 August 2013