The Journal of hospital infection
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Multicenter Study
Procalcitonin as an early indicator of outcome in sepsis: a prospective observational study.
This study explores the role of procalcitonin (PCT) in predicting the outcome of sepsis. In a prospective multicentre observational investigation, blood was sampled within 24 h of onset of sepsis in 1156 hospitalised patients; 234 were in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the point of presentation of sepsis while 922 were not. ⋯ Among patients whose sepsis presented in ICU, mortality was 25.6% in those with PCT ≤0.85 ng/mL but 45.3% in those with PCT >0.85 ng/mL (P=0.002; OR for death: 2.404; 95% CI: 1.385-4.171). It is concluded that PCT cut-off concentrations can contribute to predicting the outcome of sepsis and might be of particular value in identifying patients who would benefit from ICU admission.
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Indoor ventilation with good air quality control minimises the spread of airborne respiratory and other infections in hospitals. This article considers the role of ventilation in preventing and controlling infection in hospital general wards and identifies a simple and cost-effective ventilation design capable of reducing the chances of cross-infection. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis is used to simulate and compare the removal of microbes using a number of different ventilation systems. ⋯ These improvements are capable of matching the standards maintained in a properly constructed isolation room, though at much lower cost. It is recommended that the newly identified ventilation parameters be widely adopted in the design of new hospital general wards to minimise cross-infection. The proposed ventilation system can also be retrofitted in existing hospital general wards with far less disruption and cost than a full-scale refurbishment.
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Hand hygiene is considered to be the single most effective measure to prevent healthcare-associated infection. Although there have been several reports on hand hygiene compliance, data on patients with multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms in special isolation conditions are lacking. Therefore, we conducted a prospective observational study of indications for, and compliance with, hand hygiene in patients colonised or infected with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing enterobacteria in surgical intensive and intermediate care units. ⋯ This study is the first to provide data on hand hygiene in patients with MDR bacteria and includes a comparison of observed and calculated compliance. Compliance is low in patients under special isolation conditions, even for the indications of greatest impact in preventing healthcare-associated infections. These data may help to focus measures to reduce transmission of MDR bacteria and improve patient safety.
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This study analysed the clinical characteristics of bacteraemia due to unusual Citrobacter species. All non-freundii and non-koseri Citrobacter isolates were identified to species level by two commercial identification methods and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. A total of 306 patients with Citrobacter spp. bacteraemia were identified from January 2000 through December 2009. ⋯ An attributable mortality was 33.3%. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that the resistance patterns varied among different Citrobacter species. Non-freundii and non-koseri Citrobacter species are difficult to identify and are a rare cause of intra-abdominal infections with secondary healthcare-associated bacteraemia in immunocompromised patients.