Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T04:41:57.361Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strict Versus Modified Isolation for Prevention of Nosocomial Transmission of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Bruce S. Ribner ,
Martha N. Landry  and
Gail L. Gholson
Bruce S. Ribner*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Program in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Hermann Hospital, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas
Martha N. Landry
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Program in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Hermann Hospital, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas
Gail L. Gholson
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Program in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Hermann Hospital, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas
*
Department of Hospital Epidemiology, Hermann Hospital, 1203 Ross Sterling Avenue, Houston, TX 77030
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Patients colonized or infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Surgical Intermediate Care Unit were placed either in Strict Isolation or cared for with modified isolation precautions. The assignment was determined by the unit in which they were hospitalized. Units were changed from one form of isolation to the other and served as their own controls.

Over a 4-month study period, the rate of MRSA transmission did not change when the type of isolation precautions were altered. The ratio of colonized to infected patients also remained constant. Infected patients were usually first detected by clinical specimens, while colonized patients were usually detected by surveillance cultures performed under the study protocol.

Following the study, all hospitalized patients with MRSA were placed in modified isolation precautions. Total new acquisitions of MRSA in the hospital have decreased over the subsequent 6-month period.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 7 , Issue 6 , June 1986 , pp. 317 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Haley, RW, Hightower, AW, Khabbaz, RF, et al: The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in United States hospitals. Ann Intern Med 1982; 97:297–308.Google Scholar
2. Saravolatz, LD, Pohlod, DJ, Arking, LM: Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection: A new source of nosocomial outbreaks. Ann Intern Med 1982; 97:325–329.Google Scholar
3. Thompson, RL, Cabezudo, I, Wenzel, RP: Epidemiology of nosocomial infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . Ann Intern Med 1982; 97:309–317.Google Scholar
4. Watanakunakorn, C: Treatment of infection due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . Ann Intern Med 1982; 97:376–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Collopy, BT, Dalton, MF, Wright, C, et al: Comparison of the clinical significance of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus isolations. Med J Aust 1984; 140:211–214.Google Scholar
6. Linnemann, CC, Mason, M, Moore, P, et al: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Experience in a general hospital over 4 years. Am J Epidemiol 1982; 115:941–950.Google Scholar
7. Editorial. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . J Hosp Infect 1983; 4:327–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Jones, L, Baggott, JB: Control and elimination of an MRSA outbreak. Med J Aust 1982; 1:480.Google Scholar
9. Boyce, JM, Landry, M, Deetz, TR, et al: Epidemiologie studies of an outbreak of nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. Infect Control 1981; 2:110–116.Google Scholar
10. Klimek, JJ, Marsik, FJ, Bartlett, RC, et al: Clinical, epidemiologic and bacteriologie observations of an outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at a large community hospital. Am J Med 1976; 61:340–345.Google Scholar
11. Crossley, K, Landesman, B, Zaske, D: An outbreak of infections caused by strains of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to methicillin and aminoglycosides. II. Epidemiologic studies. J Infect Dis 1979; 139:280–287.Google Scholar
12. Peacock, JE Jr, Marsik, FJ, Wenzel, RP: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Introduction and spread within a hospital. Ann Intern Med 1980; 93:526–532.Google Scholar
13. Craven, DE, Reed, C, Kollisch, N, et al: A large outbreak of infections caused by a strain of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to oxacillin and aminoglycosides. Am J Med 1981; 71:53–58.Google Scholar
14. Ward, TT, Winn, RE, Hartstein, AI, et al: Observations relating to an inter-hospital outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Role of antimicrobial therapy in infection control. Infect Control 1981; 2:453–459.Google Scholar
15. Garner, JS, Simmons, BP: Guidelines for isolation precautions in hospitals. Infect Control 1983; 4:245–349.Google Scholar
16. lpsen, J, Feigl, P: Bancroft's Introduction to Biostatistics (2nd ed) New York, Harper and Row, 1970, pp 81–84.Google Scholar