[Adequate disinfection in pediatric hospitals].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F Daschner.
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The incidence of hospital-acquired infections varies between 2 and 15% (on average 5 to 8%). Most common nosocomial infections are urinary tract infections, wound infections, respiratory tract infections, septicemia and infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Nosocomial infections arise essentially via two routes: endogenously from the bodies own flora or exogenously via direct or indirect contact with the patient. Bacteria are most commonly transmitted from patient to patient by hands. Air as a vehicle, by which bacteria are transmitted, plays a relatively minor role. Priorities in hospital infection control are: hand washing and hand desinfection, improvement of certain nursing techniques, isolation of infected or susceptible patients, an infection control team with a nurse epidemiologist, surveillance and control of antibiotic therapy regimens, especially of antibiotic prophylaxis. Routine floor desinfection could not be shown to significantly reduce the hospital infection rate.
The incidence of hospital-acquired infections in surgery fluctuates between 1.5 and 29%, the average infection is 5%. The most frequent hospital infections are: urinary tract infections, wound infections, respiratory tract infections, sepsis and infections of the skin. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus are most commonly isolated from the nosocomial infections. Hospital infections in surgery are of endogenous origin, i.e. from the organisms of the body itself (e. g. wound infections after intestinal interventions) or exogenous from direct or indrect contact. The most frequent route of transmission is by hands. Almost half of all hospital-acquired infections have their origin in surgery. Standards of prevention of hospital-acquired infections in surgery departments are described.
Among hospital-acquired infections, urinary tract infections are the widest spread. The most common pathogenic agents are E. coli, Enterococci and Proteus mirabilis. Indwelling bladder catheters account for about 70% of infections. Suprapubic urine drainage can reduce the incidence of urinary tract infections by approximatively 50%.
Two problems are discussed: hospital infection of neonates and potentially fatal neonatal infections caused by group B streptococci and E. coli K1. The incidence of hospital acquired infections in a neonatal intensive care ward was 12.4%. Premature infants with an average weight of 1673 g were particularly prone to infection. On the average, infected patients stayed in hospital 34.8 days, uninfected patients 6.8 days. The most common infections were sepsis, skin infections, infections of the upper and lower airways and meningitis. Group B streptococci are among the most frequent pathogens of potentially fatal postnatal infections. The "early" form (usually sepsis) and "late" form (usually meningitis) are presented in detail.
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Hygienic precautions in hospital have absolute priority for the prevention of infections in patients with burns. For adequate dosage of antibiotics further studies are required. The dosage of many substances has probably been too low. The most promising results might be achieved by methods which increase the defences of the human body itself.
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The antibiotic management of tonsillitis, acute otitis media, sinusitis and bronchitis is critically reviewed. Tonsillitis due to Group A streptococci must be treated with penicillin for 10 days in order to prevent complications. Antibiotics should not be used locally in pharyngitis or tonsillitis. Tonsillectomy does neither reduce the incidence of streptococcal tonsillitis nor of rheumatic complications. Antibiotic cover for tonsillectomy is not indicated except in patients with rheumatic heart disease or in those with prosthetic heart valves. The indications for the prophylactic use of antibiotics in ear, nose and throat surgery are discussed.
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The most important measures for prevention of hospital-acquired urinary tract infections are: sterility when passing catheters, daily catheter care, careful disinfection of hands before manipulation of the catheter system, closed urine drainage systems. When using closed urine drainage systems whose continuity must never be interrupted, rinsing with local antibiotics is unnecessary.
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One thousand post-mortem reports were analysed retrospectively to see whether the patient had had a nosocomial or community-acquired infection and whether this led directly to or contributed to the patient's death. In 7.4% of all autopsies nosocomial infection was the direct cause of death. In 6.3% of the patients, nosocomial infection was a contributory factor leading to death. The most common hospital infections were pneumonia, septicaemia, peritonitis, meningitis, and hepatitis B. Most infections which led to or contributed to death were acquired in surgical wards. Patients with nosocomial infections, however, were more endangered by factors predisposing to infections (1.8 factors per patient) than patients without nosocomial infections (0.67 factors per patient). Sixty-three patients acquired an infection outside the hospital; in 70% of these patients, the infection was the main or contributory cause of death.
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The incidence of hospital-accquired infections in children as given in the literature varies between 0.3%--25%. The most frequent infections are those of the urinary tract, respiratory tract, skin, wounds, gastrointestinal tract, or septicemia, and meningitis, caused by staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, klebsiella, enterobacter, pseudomonas, proteus, fungi or virus. Besides the identification of the type of infectious agent it is most important for the prevention and therapy of hospital-acquired infections to wash and desinfect hands, to isolate affected children, especially those with low resistance, employment of trained staff, improvement of special nursing techniques, repeated training and motivation of staff personal, and the critical use of antibiotics.
Of 611 prospectively studied patients in a surgical intensive care unit, 177 developed hospital infections (29%): urinary tract infections (37.2%), pneumonia (22.5%), sepsis (19.7%), wound infections (9.6%), etc. The commonest pathogens were Pseud. aeruginosa, E. coli, Staph. aureus, enterococci, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis. In preventing and combating hospital infections in intensive care units, priority should be given not to antibiotics but to hygiene in the hospital. Systemic antibiotic prophylaxis prevents neither hospital-contracted pneumonia, sepsis nor urinary tract infections. There is an urgent need for controlled studies on the necessity and selection of locally active antibacterial and antimycotic substances to prevent germ ascension in vein and bladder catheters.
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