Importance of protective glovesThe

Importance of protective gloves
The wearing of protective gloves is a sensible precaution in various clinical situations in order to prevent gross soiling or contamination (Box 1 gif ppt). It may even break the chain of infection more effectively than hand-washing or hand disinfection. A prospective, controlled intervention study showed that a training session and the availability of gloves directly at the bedside can -significantly reduce the incidence of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) ( 4). The hands should be disinfected when protective gloves are taken off, because in contrast to surgical gloves, ordinary protective gloves are often permeable to pathogens even before use. Moreover, the hands may have come into contact with the potentially contaminated outer surface of the gloves during removal. In the case of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), a study showed that despite the use of gloves the same path-ogen could be found on the hands of staff involved in treatment in 30% of cases (5).