TT virus. A review of the literature.

In 1997, a new DNA virus was cloned by a Japanese team and designated TT virus (TTV). This virus seemed to be associated with non-A, non-G post-transfusion hepatitis. It was isolated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and was presumed to be human Circoviridae.

[The TT virus: review of the literature].

Objective: To review the literature on the TT virus.

Methods: The literature review was based on articles identified through MEDLINE between Jan. 1, 1997, and August 15, 1999.

Infection control and changes in management of hospitals: the European experience.

The general setting for the management of many European hospitals has undergone enormous changes during the last five to 10 years, especially with respect to economic, personnel and technical resources. This change has had a serious influence on the practice of infection control. To get an insight of the problems infection control practitioners in Europe today have to face, hospital epidemiologists representing nine European countries were asked to answer a questionnaire.

Comparison of effectiveness and required time of two surveillance methods in intensive care patients.

The intensive care unit (ICU) standardized protocol of the NNIS (National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance) system is a surveillance method of hospital acquired infections (HAI), which provides device-associated infection rates. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness and the required time for data collection and analysis of a selective surveillance method (SSM) derived from the NNIS ICU surveillance protocol, and to compare its data with that of a reference surveillance method (RSM). The sensitivity, specificity and the positive predictive value (PPV) of the RSM were 87.