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Have you ever been admitted to the hospital for surgery or illness? Have you ever caught an infection unrelated to your surgery or illness? If so, you have been the victim of a nosocomial infection also known as hospital-acquired infections.
C. difficile, MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus), are well known, but there are many others.
Do you know that you have more chances to die from a nosocomial infection than from a car accident?
Every year in Quebec, 90 000 people are afflicted by these infections and, of that number, 4000 die immediately.
A minimum of 50% of these infections could be avoided by better prevention and control measures such as strict hand hygiene.
Nosocomial infections are also very costly to the health system. On average they cost 180 millions dollars yearly.
By joining ADVIN you contribute to the promotion of safe care and quality hospitals.
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Written by Christine Besson
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Thursday, 16 February 2006 |
 In the United-Kingdom, an electronic nose that sniffs out infections could help hospitals reduce their rate of antibiotic-resistant bacteria called MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), by allowing doctors to rapidly detect carriers of this harmful bug and thus isolate the patient.
Culture tests routinely used to identify MRSA take two or three days to complete. DNA-based tests are being trialled that promise to reduce test times to 2 hours. Researchers have come up with a test using an electronic sniffer that could cut the time further, to just 15 minutes( Journal Sensors and Actuators B -vol 109, p 355- Engineers at the University of Warwick and doctors at the Heart of England Hospital)
They put their e-nose to the test using swabs from 150 patients whose infection status had already been confirmed by regular culture tests. The system correctly detected 96 per cent of those who had an S. aureus infection.
The UK government's Department of Health says that while the panel which investigates new infection controls will study the e-nose, hopes for tackling MRSA remain focused on the emerging DNA-based tests.
In Switzerland, a team of researchers has come up with a new detection test much faster than the traditional one. Results may be obtained in a 7 hour span compared to the 72 hours required by the usual culture tests.
A study run between January 2003 and August 2005 at Geneva University Hospital (CHU) has demonstrated the efficiency of this new test. Associated to the isolation of positive patients upon admission (before any sign of infection), wearing appropriate hospital garments and strict hand hygiene, it leads to a reduction of 70% of MRSA rate in intensive care units |
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