C DIFF BUG FOUND IN HALF KIDS’ SANDPITS

Alarm as danger revealed

contamination. Prof Blanco added: “Children are generally regarded as the main group at risk for environmental exposure to pathogens, not only because they are frequent users of playgrounds, but also due to the high prevalence of geophagia in that consumption of sand within this group, and the immaturity of their immunological, neurological and digestive systems.”

Clostridium difficile is a Grampositive giving a positive result in the Gram stain test which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their cell wall.

Researchers tested 20 pairs of PROF JOSE BLANCO COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY recreational sandboxes for children and dogs in different playgrounds within Madrid.

Overall, 52.5% of samples were positive for the presence of C difficile.

Prof Blanco added: “The growing number of pets and other animals leaving excrements in the sandboxes of playgrounds and other recreational areas constitutes a serious epidemiological threat. Current tests for assessing the sanitary conditions of sandboxes focus on detecting some select pathogenic parasites and bacterial indicators of faecal contamination, but mostly neglect the possible presence of other emerging pathogens such as C difficile.”

He added the results are a call to action and should be considered in any environmental risk assessment.

DIGGING FOR TROUBLE Study revealed concerns

FEARS C Diff bug