NB this article was originally written for the Association of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine and published December 2021

There’s no getting around the fact that it’s been a tough couple of years in the world of Microbiology, Virology and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), but at this time of year its worth reviewing the bits of our jobs that are to be honest pretty awesome.  The bits that energise rather than drain us and remind us of why we love our work. 

Before I go any further, I should probably make a confession and declare that I am a bit of Christmas fanatic.  I’m the person who goes to Christmas shops when on holiday in June and thinks that as soon as November hits Christmas films and music are go!  So it’s probably of no surprise that my favourite IPC event occurs in December as part of the build up to Christmas.  Hopefully, you will also appreciate how great it is even if you don’t love Christmas as much as I do. 

I work in a paediatric hospital and every year the patients are lucky enough to be visited by not only Santa, but also his reindeer.  What does this have to do with IPC I hear you ask?  Well any animals brought onto site need to have an IPC risk assessment as they can be linked to zoonotic transmission of infection and thus pose a risk to patients.  My colleagues’ favourite time of the year is when she gets to do this for the rabbits and ducklings at Easter, but for me the reindeer assessment is very much my favourite.

Reindeer can be a source of ticks, which can harbour organisms that lead to Lyme disease and other tick borne infections, as well as being a source of more exotic bacterial infections (List of zoonotic diseases – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).  The reindeer that come to us are captive rather than wild, but even so they are still coming onto healthcare premises and need a review. The task therefore, although a joy, does have a serious aspect in terms of ensuring that the area is properly set up in order to permit the patients to visit, whilst ensuring that they are kept safe and not exposed to any risk.

We work with both the school and Santa to ensure that:

• All animals are established in an environment that supports safe handling of the reindeer to avoid injury for them and anyone interacting with them.
• Signage and other provision is made to ensure that there is no eating or drinking near to the animals or their enclosure, to reduce any infection transmission risk.
• Hand hygiene facilities are available for hand hygiene after contact, especially as the patients will feed the reindeer.
• Decontamination equipment is available to ensure the area can be adequately cleaned after Santa and his reindeer leave to visit other children.

Last year when we inspected we also had the added aspect of ensuring that Santa was SARS CoV2 free and was protected from any exposures whilst on-site.  This included having Santa complete a health screening questionnaire, including questions like whether he had any symptoms or SARS CoV2 household contacts, such as Mrs Claus, in order to assess his SARS CoV2 transmission risk.  He also needed to wear personal protective equipment i.e. fluid repellent surgical masks, to protect him and the children and young people.

This was a new aspect to the visit that made it more challenging and certainly inspired the patients to be differently engaged and ask questions such as: how does Santa manage to avoid the quarantine restrictions linked to visiting red countries?  and if Santa was vaccinated?  We responded that Santa was of course vaccinated as he had been part of the SARS CoV2 vaccine clinical trials and was therefore an early adopter of the vaccine.  We also talked about the fact that because he could manipulate time, he and the reindeer had plans about how they were still going to be able to safely visit all households and quarantine as necessary.  We also discussed that whilst he was with us we would provide him with personal protective equipment training, in the same way their clinical teams have, to ensure that he is kept safe and also protects the children he encounters along the way.  It turned into a really good way to talk to families about how we use a variety of measures in hospitals and healthcare to keep people safe, and to emphasise that although masks look scary they are actually a really good way of protecting everyone.

This experience brings me joy every year but last year in particular it reminded me that keeping people safe and raising awareness of what we do, does not have to exist in isolation from activities that are fun and engaging.  I love visiting the reindeer, however seeing patients be inspired to ask questions and explore IPC in a way they may not feel confident to do normally, also made me aware that it may be not only a joyous experience but a useful one.  It turned something fun for all involved into something that was also educational and supportive of good practice.  So this year as well as making sure I have enough carrots I will be ensuring that I’ve thought about how to make the most of this unique encounter to make a difference for everyone involved.

All opinions on this blog are my own