Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Sep 2002
Comparative StudyIs methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus more contagious than methicillin-susceptible S. aureus in a surgical intensive care unit?
In the Netherlands, the prevalence of methicillin resistance among Staphylococcus aureus isolates has been kept to less than 1% by using active screening programs and isolation. At the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), an active screening program for methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) was implemented in 1986. Between 1992 and 2001, only 6 patients with MRSA were admitted to the surgical ICU. However, 4 of these 6 strains were able to spread to 23 other patients and 15 healthcare workers (HCWs). We were surprised by the epidemic behavior of these strains and wondered whether this was exceptional for S. aureus or whether methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) was also spreading in the ICU. ⋯ In our surgical ICU, MRSA seems to spread more easily than MSSA, probably because of selection under antibiotic pressure or a still unknown intrinsic factor within MRSA.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Sep 2002
Effectiveness of bacteria-controlled nursing units in preventing cross-colonization with resistant bacteria in severely burned children.
Bacteria-controlled nursing units (BCNUs) are laminar air-flow patient isolation units. The rate of cross-colonization with resistant organisms in 66 critically ill pediatric burn patients with massive open wounds and ventilators housed in BCNUs during 5 years was examined and found to be extremely low (3.2 cases per 1,000 patient-days).