Infection control : IC
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The prevalence and pattern of nosocomial infections in a new hospital in the United Arab Emirates is presented. During an 18-month period in which there were 6,544 discharges, 379 nosocomial infections occurred in 310 patients, representing an attack rate of 4.7%. The commonest site of infection was the urinary tract which accounted for 42.2% of the total. ⋯ Escherichia coli was the most common cause of urinary tract infections and bacteremia; Staphylococcus aureus was the most common cause of surgical wound and cutaneous infections. There was only one Serratia marcescens infection. We observed a high incidence of Pseudomonas infections, particularly of the urinary tract, and Staphylococcal surgical wound and other cutaneous infections, but otherwise our data are similar to nosocomial infection data from US hospitals.
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Environmental transmission of Clostridium difficile, the causative agent of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis (PMC), has been supported by animal studies and implicated in spread of C. difficile among leukemic children receiving non-absorbable antibiotics. We report antibiotic-associated C. difficile-related colitis in two adults who shared a commode chair during hospitalization.
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Infection control : IC · Mar 1981
Prophylactic antibiotics in pediatric orthopedic surgery: current practices.
A limited survey of 90 orthopedic surgery programs throughout the U. S. A. was conducted to determine the use of prophylactic antibiotics in pediatric orthopedic operations. ⋯ The first dose was administered before surgery in 89.6% of the operations. Prophylaxis was discontinued within five days in 96% of the operations. These data provide a pattern of the use of prophylaxis in pediatric orthopedic surgery.
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Infection control : IC · Jan 1981
Surveillance in a surgical intensive care unit: patient and environment.
Microbiologic surveillance of both the patients and the ambient environment of a surgical intensive care unit allowed us to relate the incidence of nosocomial respiratory tract infection to levels of airborne bacteria. Over the study period respiratory tract nosocomial infection rates varied from 0.7% to 17.0%, and nonrespiratory infection rates varied from 1.0% to 25.0%. Airborne bacteria counts during that time varied from 1.0 +/- 0.8 S. ⋯ If the bacteria traveled from the air to the patients, there appear to be at least three possible explanations for this significant relationship: (1) direct inoculation of the airway by the airborne bacteria; (2) inoculation of the airway by direct contact, which is related to the degree of "cleanliness" of the environment; and (3) an increased incidence of contaminated respiratory equipment and airway inoculation because of high counts of airborne bacteria. It is also possible that high bacterial air counts represent contamination of the air from patients with respiratory infections. Regardless of the pathway(s), surveillance of the ambient environment may prove to be a useful epidemiologic tool in the study and control of nosocomial respiratory tract infections in certain high-risk patient care areas.
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Infection control : IC · May 1980
Nosocomial viral infections: II. Guidelines for prevention and control of respiratory viruses, herpesviruses, and hepatitis viruses.
This article reviews the most likely mechanisms of transmission of the commonly encountered respiratory viruses (influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza, rhinovirus), herpesviruses, and hepatitis viruses, and presents the guidelines used currently for prevention and control that are in use at Strong Memorial Hospital.