Hospital infections come from microbes on your own body

+ metabolism explained; looking back through time with James Webb Space Telescope US Edition - Today's top story: Infections after surgery are more likely due to bacteria already on your skin than from microbes in the hospital − new research [View in browser]( US Edition | 10 April 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Hospitals follow strict protocols to prevent infections, especially when it comes to the operating room. Every member of the surgical team scrubs up to their elbows and under their nails before carefully putting on their scrubs. Everything from the surgical instruments to the air of the operating room itself is sterilized until the operating environment is as antiseptic and aseptic as possible. And yet, while rates of many types of hospital-related medical complications have decreased over time, infections in the part of the body where the surgery occurs have remained stagnant. New research, published today, adds another finger to what a growing body of evidence is pointing to as the probable culprit for these infections: the [microbes that were already on your body before you stepped into the hospital](. In their study, anesthesiologist Dustin Long and infectious disease physician Chloe Bryson-Cahn at the University of Washington School of Medicine genetically analyzed the bacteria in patients undergoing surgery. They found 86% of bacteria causing surgical site infections were on the patients’ skin before the procedure. The majority of those previously harmless bacteria were also resistant to the antibiotics and antiseptics used before the surgery to prevent infection. “The fact that most infections don’t actually start with sources in the hospital is probably a testament to the efficacy of these protocols,” they write. “But we believe that shifting toward more patient-centered, individualized approaches to infection prevention has the potential to benefit hospitals and patients alike.” Also in this week’s science news: - [Excavating the Himalayas with a microscope]( - [The health harms of loneliness]( - [Why we have so many different battery shapes]( If there’s a subject you’d like our team of science editors to investigate, please reply to this email. Vivian Lam Associate Health and Biomedicine Editor Genetic analysis of the bacteria causing surgical site infections revealed that many were already present on the patient’s skin. Ruben Bonilla Gonzalo/Moment via Getty Images [Infections after surgery are more likely due to bacteria already on your skin than from microbes in the hospital − new research]( Dustin Long, University of Washington; Chloe Bryson-Cahn, University of Washington Most infection prevention guidelines center on the hospital environment rather than the patient. But the source of antibiotic-resistant microbes is often from the patient’s own body. Elite athletes show researchers the upper limits of a healthy metabolism. Solskin/DigitalVision via Getty Images [What is metabolism? A biochemist explains how different people convert energy differently − and why that matters for your health]( Travis Nemkov, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus An elite athlete’s metabolism mostly looks different from a patient with COVID-19 − but their occasional similarities can reveal important insights into health and disease. 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