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Epidemiology and prevention of Clostridium difficile infections in a leukemia unit.

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Delmée, Michel [UCL] Vandercam, Bernard [UCL] Avesani, V. Michaux, Jean-Louis [UCL]

A 29-month prospective study was carried out in a leukemia unit with the aim of investigating the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infections and limiting their spread. Systematic cultures of stools and assays for cytotoxin were performed on patient admission and at weekly intervals, yielding 1,355 cultures and assays. The study period was divided in period A, before total unit renovation, and period B, afterwards. During period B all patient carriers of Clostridium difficile received vancomycin. A comparison of the two periods showed that the percentage of positive cultures fell from 16.6% to 3.6% and the positive toxin assays from 9.9% to 1.2%. It was concluded that colonization by Clostridium difficile can be prevented in hospital wards with generally high rates of infection by a combination of decontamination of the environment, introduction of preventive measures and treatment of Clostridium difficile carriage with vancomycin.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Journal Article
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 1987
Journal information "European journal of clinical microbiology" - Vol. 6, no. 6, p. 623-7 (1987)
issn 0722-2211
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - MD/MIGE - Département de microbiologie, d'immunologie et de génétique
MESH Subject Carrier State - drug therapy ; Clostridium - classification ; Cross Infection - drug therapy - epidemiology - prevention & control ; Disease Outbreaks ; Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous - drug therapy - epidemiology - prevention & control ; Hospital Units ; Humans ; Leukemia - complications ; Prospective Studies ; Serotyping ; Vancomycin - therapeutic use
Links
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Bibliographic reference Delmée, Michel ; Vandercam, Bernard ; Avesani, V. ; Michaux, Jean-Louis. Epidemiology and prevention of Clostridium difficile infections in a leukemia unit.. In: European journal of clinical microbiology, Vol. 6, no. 6, p. 623-7 (1987)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/24855