[Prevention of hospital-acquired infection. Efficacy of isolation procedures in a neurological intensive care unit (ICU) (author's transl)].

Isolation procedures were adopted after usual measures failed to control hospital-acquired infection in a neurological ICU. All patients with an intubation or a tracheostomy were treated in individual rooms following the rules of strict isolation. The circulation of contaminated equipments was strictly isolated from the rest of the ICU. The efficacy of this isolation policy was aasessed by comparing the rates of hospital-acquired infections during the year before and the year after its adoption. The rates of pulmonary infections and venous catheters infections were significantly reduced (p less than or equal to 0.001). The rates of septicemias and urinary infections were relatively unaffected. The mortality caused by nosocomial infections showed a 64% fall (p less than 0.001) which accounted for a 29% reduction in the overall mortality (p less than 0.05). The average stay in the ICU was shortened by 20% and antibiotics consumption declined by 64% leading to substantial savings of money. The activity of the ICU as reflected by the number of admitted patients was unaffected.