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Addicts steal hospital hand sanitizers

Infection Control Monitor, December 21, 2007

A Canadian hospital has been hit with an unusual round of thefts. Drug addicts are stealing hand-sanitizer units from St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver because of the product's high alcohol content, reported the Vancouver Sun.

Thieves have ripped the dispensers from the walls. A hospital spokesman said the hospital found that an average of 18 dispensers and bottles of sanitizer have been vandalized or stolen every month since January. A security guard caught one thief holding 10 bottles of sanitizer that he planned to sell on the street, the spokesman said. A St. Paul's Hospital social worker recognized some of the containers when visiting patients in one area of town.

The hand sanitizer is 70% alcohol, an amount necessary to kill bacterial and viral pathogens and reduce the spread of infections. The hospital spokesman said the risk of thefts is outweighed by the benefits to patients, staff, and visitors of ensuring proper hand hygiene. As a result of the thefts, the hospital has removed some dispensers in some locations and stopped leaving individual bottles on counters, except in places like the intensive care unit or wards where wall space is limited.

The problem goes beyond one Canadian hospital. In the current edition of the British Medical Journal, researchers reported the results of what is believed to be the first study on the use of hand-sanitizing products in hospitals. The British study, which spanned three years, cited the case of an alcoholic woman who fell into a coma after drinking a 500-ml bottle of the hand rub. She was found on a hospital bathroom floor, clutching an empty bottle with another nearby, the newspaper said.

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