Sustained improvement in hand hygiene compliance using a multi-modal improvement programme at a Swiss multi-site regional hospital.

Background: Evidence of sustained improvement in hand hygiene compliance at the institutional level is scarce.

Aim: To assess the impact and sustainability of a hospital-wide improvement programme on hand hygiene compliance of staff.

Methods: Analysis of trends of hand hygiene compliance for all clinical staff, measured through direct observation by trained observers, within a 450-bed multi-centre teaching hospital in the county of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Prospective study on the incidence of infection by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato after a tick bite in a highly endemic area of Switzerland.

The periurban forest of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) is a high-risk area for Lyme Borreliosis, due to a high density of infected Ixodes ricinus ticks. In this study, we evaluated the risk of subclinical (seroconversion) and clinical infection after a tick bite in Neuchâtel inhabitants from 2003 to 2005. Inhabitants have been invited, through media, to visit a physician after a tick bite.

Tick bites in a Lyme borreliosis highly endemic area in Switzerland.

The duration of tick feeding is an important indicator to evaluate the risk of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato transmission, which increases considerably with the blood meal duration. This blood meal duration may be estimated from scutal index, the ratio between body length (idiosoma) and scutum width. For the estimation of blood meal duration in Ixodes ricinus, nymphal and adult female ticks were detached at predetermined intervals (24, 48, 72, and 96h) from laboratory mice and rabbits and their scutal index calculated.

An outbreak of scabies: a forgotten parasitic disease still present in Switzerland.

Introduction: Scabies, a contagious parasitic dermatosis, has a worldwide distribution but is considered a "disease of the poor" in resourcerich countries. However, it can cause major public health problems following outbreaks in industrialised countries. The following study describes a large outbreak of scabies involving several health care institutions in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Outbreak of human listeriosis associated with tomme cheese in northwest Switzerland, 2005.

During an eight week period in spring 2005, 10 cases of listeriosis were reported in a small area of northwest Switzerland (150,000 inhabitants). Eight cases were in older immunocompromised patients who became ill with bacteraemia (three deaths), and two cases were in pregnant women who had septic abortion. All cases were due to a serotype 1/2a isolate with one of two pulsovars found by PFGE.