Showing papers in "Journal of Patient Safety and Infection Control in 2016"

Efficacy studies on peracetic acid against pathogenic microorganisms

Abstract: Background: The peracetic acid (PAA) has antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi including spores and is envirosafe. Despite its widespread use in food industry and effluent treatment, it is not widely used in hospitals. The present work was aimed to find out its efficacy against hospital pathogens, bacterial and fungal spores and mycobacteria. Methods: Multidrug-resistant, wild hospital isolates of Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria, tough organisms such as Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Candida albicans and spores of Bacillus subtilis, Clostridium perfringens and Aspergillus niger were checked by modified Kelsey-Sykes suspension test. For vegetative bacteria, exposure time was 1 min. For bacterial and fungal spores, Candida and Mycobacteria, exposure time varied from 10 to 30 min. Results: More than 5-log reduction was seen for vegetative bacteria just after 1 min exposure to PAA. Ten minute exposure to PAA could inactivate 99.5% bacterial and fungal spores. Mycobacteria were inactivated within 10 min of exposure to PAA. PAA rapidly inactivates pathogenic bacteria within 1 min and inactivates mycobacteria and fungi within 10 min and sterilises spores within 30 min and remains active in the presence of proteins. Conclusions: It is economic, eco-friendly and deserves major share in hospital disinfection.

There is more to hand hygiene than routine training of health workers and display of promotional materials

Abstract: Background/Objective: Hand hygiene (HH) non-compliance is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections, and a gap between knowledge and practice is observed widely. Health researchers are now using a new approach called 'Positive Deviance' (PD) to tackle such behavioural/cultural/social problems leading to adverse health issues. Therefore, can PD approach be used to improve knowledge and compliance of HH practices also? This study is designed to find what are the reasons for PD among nursing staff of our hospital and whether these behavioural changes can be imbibed by others if motivated and trained appropriately. Materials and Methods: The level of compliance to HH and PD among 25 Intensive Care Unit nurses was noted. This was followed by a second and a third interface consisting of focus group discussions and one-to-one interviews to motivate them based on the PD noted and to detect the possible betterment of compliance to HH. Results: The practice of HH was followed by 20% of the nurses, and they were identified as positive deviants and when reasons which made them to be compliant were reinforced and impressed on the rest of the nurses, a further 32% became compliant. Awareness of the fact that HH prevents colonisation with potential pathogens was shown by 100% after the intervention. Conclusions: A PD strategy yielded an improvement in HH compliance. An improvement in knowledge and practice of HH was noted. Multimodal interventions are needed to induce sustained HH practice improvements and this will reduce the gap between knowledge and practice of HH in hospitals and thereby reduce hospital-acquired infections.

WITHDRAWN: Presence of Qnr genes related to resistance to quinolones, first-, second-, and third-generation in diarrheagenic Escherichia coli

Abstract: Background: Resistance genes transferred by plasmids are important factors that can contribute to the occurrence of quinolone resistance, specifically in Escherichia coli strains. Methods: A total number of 117 diarrhoeagenic E. coli strains were tested for the resistance to nalidixic acid, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin and for the presence of qnrA, qnrB and qnrS genes determinants by polymerase chain reaction. Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed using the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute standard method. Results: The highest resistance belonged to the nalidixic acid (52.14%) and the least resistance to levofloxacin (37.61%). In this study, among a total of 117 samples, 23 (19.66%) strains were susceptible to all the studied antibiotics. Among the remainder, 94 (80.34%) samples resistant to at least one quinolone, three genes including qnrA, qnrB and qnrS were present in 19.15%, 88.30% and 78.72% isolates, respectively. Furthermore, 51.06% of strains had A−, B+ and S+ pattern that seems to have a significant association (P Conclusions: The results of present study show the presence of a high frequency of qnr genes in E. coli strains resistant to quinolones in clinical samples from southwest of Iran. In addition, this study approved that plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance is a possible mechanism among the quinolones-resistant E. coli isolated from patients with diarrhoea in the study, and also qnrB and qnrS genes seem to be more important in resistance to quinolones.

WITHDRAWN: Surgical patients’ safety in Polish hospital environment in the context of selected infection control practices

Abstract: Background Surgical site infections (SSI) still continue to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality, despite the improvement in methods for infection control as well as surgical practices. The aim of this work is the presentation and analysis of SSI control practices in selected surgical wards in Poland as compared to other European countries. Methods The presented data were obtained using a standardized questionnaire within a European project devoted to describing and analyzing the surveillance of nosocomial infections in individual European countries. Results In all studied wards, written procedures of SSI prevention were present, as well as obligatory training of ward personnel concerning infection control. Alcohol based handrub dispensers were available in over 75% points of care in most wards, as opposed to belt/pocket bottles, which were available for a small number of ward personnel. Alcohol solutions were most often used for skin preparation. Shaving immediately before operations was the most common way of hair removal. A WHO checklist was used in 20% of the studied wards. Conclusions Based on the results of the study, the organization of surveillance infections in Polish surgical wards appears to be satisfactory. However, practical implementation of surgical site infection prophylaxis calls for significant alterations, both in terms of executing training as well as implementing practices in the wards or the operating room. On the one hand, due to a lack of multicenter studies on the epidemiology of SSI in Polish surgical wards, actual exposure to SSI cannot be assessed.