Device-day infection rates - a surveillance component system for intensive care units at Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A surveillance component system for Intensive Care Units (ICUs) designed to account for major extrinsic risk factors for nosocomial infections using device days as the denominator has been advocated. A study of the surveillance component system in ICUs was conducted in Security Forces Hospital (SFH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from February 1993 to January 1994 to verify the validity and compare the device-related infection rates with the infection rates based on patient admission and patient days. The standard recommended method was used in data collection.

Outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a neonatal intensive care unit.

An outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) occurred in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) over a period of 2 months involving 16 babies, mainly of low birth weight. Arbitrary grouping of the isolates showed that there were apparently three different strains involved in the outbreak, as determined only by antibiogram. Twenty-three out of 27 isolates were allocated to 'group 1' based on antibiotic sensitivity pattern.

Nursing aspects of infection control in developing countries.

The quality of the infection control programme in developing countries is determined by the resource allocation to the health sector and the health care delivery system. These depend to a great extent on the socio-economic development of the country. Morbidity and mortality from communicable infections, such as diarrhoeal diseases and malaria are high.

Pyogenic meningitis in Ibadan, Nigeria. A 15-month prospective study.

Between January 1976 and March 1977, cerebrospinal fluid samples from 2130 patients at University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria were examined, 130 patients were shown to have pyogenic meningitis. The commonest causative bacteria were Streptococcus pneumoniae (53.8%), Haemophilus influenzae (23%), Neisseria meningitidis (7.

Septicaemia in the tropics. A prospective epidemiological study of 146 patients with a high case fatality rate.

A prospective study showed that during the first 6 months of 1976, 146 patients out of a total of 3938 admitted to a hospital in Nigeria were suffering from septicaemia, or developed the condition while in hospital. Findings differed from those reported from developed countries in that the majority of infections were community acquired, those most frequently and severely affected were the very young, and salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus were the most important pathogens.