To estimate the risk of exposure and infection with bloodborne pathogens, a seroepidemiologic survey was conducted among funeral service practitioners (FSPs) in Maryland.

Of 262 members of the Maryland State Funeral Directors Association, 130 (49%) volunteered to participate in the study. In addition to a brief questionnaire, designed to assess both occupational and non-occupational risk factors for bloodborne pathogen infection, participants were screened for markers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and past hepatitis B virus (HBV). Titers for antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) also were examined and compared with history of hepatitis B vaccination.

Seroprevalence for HIV, HBV, and HCV infection was 0.8%, 4.6%, and 0%, respectively. Nearly 19% of participants reported at least one bloodborne exposure in the past 6 months. The one HIV infection and all but two of the HBV infections were correlated with well-established non-occupational risk behaviors. Disposable gloves were worn by 96%, and eating, drinking, or smoking during embalming were infrequent. Sixty-one percent of FSPs reported having received one or more doses of hepatitis B vaccine at some time in the past. Of those who reported having received all three doses of vaccine, 67% had adequate titers to hepatitis B surface antibody, the marker of protection related to vaccination.

Compared with prior studies of FSPs, this study found a low rate of occupational exposures and a high rate of hepatitis B vaccination, suggesting improved compliance with recommendations for preventing transmission of bloodborne pathogens in the workplace.

To assess the efficacy of current Myco-bacterium tuberculosis control measures.

Voluntary questionnaire to members of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

Healthcare worker (HCW) tuberculin skin-test (TST) conversion rates were significantly higher in larger hospitals ( ≥ 437 beds) (0.9% versus 0.6%; P < 0.05), or in hospitals reporting ≥ 6 TB patients in 1992 (1.2% versus 0.6%; P < 0.05). Among larger hospitals or those hospitals surveyed reporting ≥ 6 TB patients, those without at least three of the four criteria suggested in the 1990 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) TB guidelines for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) isolation (specifically, a single-patient room; negative pressure; and air exhausted directly outside) had significantly higher annual TST conversion rates than those with these criteria (1.8% versus 0.6%; P < 0.05). Respiratory therapist or bronchoscopist TST conversion rates were significantly lower in hospitals compliant with the exhaust criteria (1.2% versus 2.8%; P < 0.05). Regardless of hospital characteristic, HCW TST conversion rates did not differ between hospitals in which HCWs used surgical masks or used disposable particulate respirators.

Among larger hospitals or hospitals reporting ≥ 6 TB patients per year, failure to comply with the 1990 CDC TB recommendations for AFB isolation room guidelines was associated with higher HCW TST conversion rates. These data suggest that complete implementation of the 1990 CDC TB guidelines would decrease HCWs’ risk of nosocomial transmission of TB in larger hospitals or those reporting more TB patients. However, in nonoutbreak situations, disposable particulate respirators or submicron surgical masks may not offer significantly greater protection to HCWs than surgical masks.

To investigate an outbreak of surgical site infections (SSI) in a vascular surgery unit.

A 60-bed unit of vascular surgery, where surgeons performed an average of 30 operations per month at the Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual, a 1,000-bed tertiary care hospital in São Paulo, Brazil.

We included in the case group nine patients who had limb amputations or arterial reconstructions, October 16 through 23, 1992. We included in the control group patients whose operations were performed within 30 days of the outbreak period. Control patients were matched for sex and type of operation.

Six of 9 case patients experienced SSI, as compared with 3 of 18 control patients (P= .026) and 28 of 244 patients in the pre-epidemic period (P= .0002). Risk factors were identical for case and control groups. Factors assessed were American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) status, duration of surgery, wound class, emergency status, remote site infections, preoperative length of stay, use of prophylactic antibiotics, and underlying diseases. Possible common sources also were analyzed. No differences were observed concerning hair removal, preoperative shower, wound dressing, and surgical team present in the operating room. During the outbreak period, the operating room was not provided with povidone-iodine, used in our hospital for skin cleansing and handscrubbing. Surgeons from all departments, including vascular surgery, used 2% iodine with 70% alcohol for skin cleansing. Surgeons from other departments used this iodine solution for handscrubbing, but the vascular surgeons used plain soap for handscrubbing. No increases in SSI rates were reported in other services. Comparison of case and control groups for handscrubbing was statistically significant (P<.00001). After reinstitution of povidone-iodine, only one SSI was diagnosed in 13 vascular procedures.

Although we could not demonstrate definitely that scrubbing with plain soap was related to SSI, we found a strong suggestion of this association

To determine the incidence, duration, and genetic diversity of colonization with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF).

Oncology unit of a 650-bed university hospital.

Surveillance perianal swab cultures were performed on admission and weekly. The molecular relatedness of VREF isolates was determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and by the hybridization pattern of the vanA resistance determinant.

During 8 months of surveillance, the VREF colonization rate was 16.6 patients per 1,000 patient-hospital days, which was 10.6 times greater than the VREF infection rate. Eighty-six patients with VREF colonization were identified. Colonization persisted for at least 7 weeks in the majority of patients. Of 36 colonized patients discharged from the hospital and then readmitted, an average of 2½ weeks later, 22 (61%) patients still were colonized with VREF. Of the 14 patients who were VREF-negative at readmission, only three patients remained culture-negative throughout hospitalizations. PFGE demonstrated that colonization with the same VREF isolate may persist for at least 1 year, and patients may be colonized with more than one strain of VREF.

VREF colonization is at least 10-fold more prevalent than infection among oncology patients. Colonization often persists throughout lengthy hospitalizations and may continue for long periods following hospitalization.

To describe methods of preventing nosocomial pertussis in patients, employees, and visitors to a hospital during a communitywide epidemic in Greater Cincinnati.

Six-month descriptive study of the methods, effectiveness, and cost of a program to prevent nosocomial pertussis.

Three hundred sixty-one bed, tertiary-care, university, pediatric hospital.

We educated 3,764 hospital employees about pertussis. We evaluated 206 employees with respiratory illnesses, based on clinical presentation, pertussis exposure, and work setting. Eighty-seven had pertussis: 84 coughed for ≥2 weeks (outbreak clinical case definition), 65 had paroxysms, 27 whooped, 22 had posttussive emesis, and 13 were positive by direct fluorescent antibody or culture for Bordetella pertussis. Seventy-nine employees were sent on 5-day furloughs. Six hundred twenty-two employees received 14 days of erythromycin (579) or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (43). Symptomatic patients were identified at triage in the emergency department and placed in respiratory isolation. Suspect pertussis cases were admitted in respiratory isolation. Among 49 toddlers who were given erythromycin and managed in “coughing respiratory cohorts,” eight had proven pertussis. Inpatients were restricted to assigned nursing units. Respiratory masks were required for those entering the test referral center, where more than 3,500 pertussis cultures were performed. Hospitalwide visitor restriction was enforced for those aged 14 years or younger and for those with respiratory symptoms. Only parents and guardians were permitted to visit the newborn intensive care unit. A child-care service managed 488 inpatient sibling visitors. Four symptomatic children in the employees' child-care center were excluded pending physician evaluation; one had pertussis.

Control measures appeared effective. Pertussis occurred in 87 (2%) employees. Among 102 children hospitalized with pertussis, respiratory isolation was delayed in nine cases, and one case was nosocomial. Program expenses totalled $85,400. Adult booster immunization with acellular pertussis vaccine might represent the safest and least expensive strategy for preventing epidemic pertussis, and controlled trials of acellular pertussis vaccine in hospital employees are needed.