Cleaning patient shower facilities:: A novel approach to reducing patient exposure to aerosolized Aspergillus species and other opportunistic molds

We previously have demonstrated that the hospital water-distribution system could be a reservoir for airborne molds that leads to secondary aerosolization of these molds in patient shower facilities. In this report, we show that cleaning the floors of patient shower facilities in a bone marrow transplantation unit reduced the mean air concentrations of molds, including Aspergillus species (from 12 cfu/m(3) to 4 cfu/m(3); P = .0047 ).