Clothing and shoes of personnel as potential vectors for transfer of health care-associated pathogens to the community.

In an acute care hospital, we demonstrated that the clothing and shoes that physicians and nurses wear home from health care facilities can be contaminated with health care-associated pathogens, particularly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. These findings suggest that the clothing and shoes of personnel have the potential to serve as vectors for the transfer of health care-associated pathogens to the community.