Epidemiologic surveillance of multidrug-resistant bacteria in a teaching hospital: A 3-year experience.

Background: The objective of this prospective study was to verify the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary surveillance program that was implemented in a teaching hospital in southern Brazil, to prevent and control the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms.

Methods: The program implemented involved establishment of prevention guidelines, hand-hygiene promotion, isolation of patients colonized or infected by such organisms, enforced contact precautions, and terminal cleaning and disinfection of isolation rooms. A microbiology service, previously provided by an external laboratory, was established in the hospital.

[Virulence factors for Candida spp recovered from intravascular catheters and hospital workers hands].

The virulence potential of 23 yeasts recovered from intravascular catheters and the hands of workers in a hospital in the northwestern region of Paraná were evaluated. Yeasts recovered from catheters presented greater adherence and were more hydrophobic (p<0.05) than yeasts recovered from hands.