Hospital-associated Clostridium difficile infection and reservoirs within the hospital environment.

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a leading cause of hospital-associated infections. Antibiotic stewardship, environmental disinfection, and reduction of transmission via health care workers are the major modes of CDI prevention within hospitals.

Methods: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the environment in the spread of CDI within hospital rooms.

Can improving patient hand hygiene impact Clostridium difficile infection events at an academic medical center?

Background: Hand hygiene plays an important role in the prevention of Clostridium difficile (CD) infection (CDI). Patient hand hygiene (PHH) may be a potentially underused preventative measure for CDI. Patient mobility and acuity along with a lack of education present obstacles to PHH for the hospitalized patient.

Infection and readmission rate of cardiac implantable electronic device insertions: An observational single center study.

Background: Infection is one of the most serious complications following surgical placement of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). Infection prevention efforts are necessary in reducing CIED infectious outcomes. These devices, however, are commonly inserted in higher risk patients, which may explain the ongoing risk of surgical site infection (SSI) in this population.

A bundle strategy including patient hand hygiene to decrease clostridium difficile infections.

Prevention strategies for Clostridium difficile infection traditionally have addressed barrier precautions, environmental disinfection, and health care worker hand hygiene. When applied as a bundle, this approach has been used widely as an evidence-based strategy to prevent hospital-acquired C. difficile infection.

Traffic in the operating room: a review of factors influencing air flow and surgical wound contamination.

Surgical wound contamination leading to surgical site infection can result from disruption of the intended airflow in the operating room (OR). When personnel enter and exit the OR, or create unnecessary movement and traffic during the procedure, the intended airflow in the vicinity of the open wound becomes disrupted and does not adequately remove airborne contaminants from the sterile field. An increase in the bacterial counts of airborne microorganisms is noted during increased activity levels within the OR.

Control of an outbreak of infection with the hypervirulent Clostridium difficile BI strain in a university hospital using a comprehensive "bundle" approach.

Background: In June 2000, the hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile (CD) infection rate in our hospital (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Presbyterian, Pittsburgh, PA) increased to 10.4 infections per 1000 hospital discharges (HDs); the annual rate increased from 2.7 infections per 1000 HDs to 7.

A large outbreak of Clostridium difficile-associated disease with an unexpected proportion of deaths and colectomies at a teaching hospital following increased fluoroquinolone use.

Background And Objective: Fluoroquinolones have not been frequently implicated as a cause of Clostridium difficile outbreaks. Nosocomial C. difficile infections increased from 2.