Hazards for Daycare Staff

Hazards for the Community: Superbugs, E-Coli, and Other Bacteria

• The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) warns daycare workers about antibiotic-resistant superbugs in daycare. (Note that CUPE is a leading lobbyist for increasing preferential public funding for daycare centres.) And here is some related CUPE info on superbugs in hospitals.
  
  
• According to the BBC News article "Day Care Centres Breed 'Superbugs'," "lead researcher Dr Ron Dagan, of Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, Israel, said: 'Day care centres act as microenvironments that facilitate and promote selection, spread and transmission of antibiotic-resistant respiratory tract organisms in the community and should be seen as major targets for intervention.'"
  
  
• An extensive study shows that more daycare centres are more contaminated with bacteria than public washrooms according to this New York Times article.
  
  
• The Food Safety Authority of Ireland warns of the "hidden dangers of E. coli in childcare facilities".

Other Illnesses and Infections

• The American Academy of Otolaryngology warns parents of illness in daycare centres: Children in daycare have 4 times as many ear infections as those who stay home.
  
  
• Children in daycare are more likely to experience recurring cytomegalovirus infections.
  
  
• Children in daycare are 4.5 times more likely to be hospitalized and 50% more likely to suffer infection.
  
  
• Children in any form of non-maternal child care experience more illness in the first two years of life according to a US NICHD child care study report in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
  
  
• Children age 3 to 4 ½ in group child care with more than 6 other children are more likely to be ill than those in small group or home care according to a US NICHD study report in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
  
  
• Here is a list of illnesses associated with daycare.

Mold, Dampness

• Mold in daycare centres increased illness according to a Finnish study.
  
  
• Daycare mold increases illness in staff according to an article in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health.
  
  
• Mold leads to the closing of an infant/toddler daycare in North Carolina.
  
  
• A University of Oslo, Norway study finds 51% of daycares studied have dampness problems.

Stress, Children's Elevated Cortisol Levels