[Performances of different types of airflow system in operating theatre].

Aim: To compare the performance of various types of airflow system in operating theatre.

Methods: Besançon Hospital has three types of airflow system in operating theatre: laminar (unidirectional) flow, stabilized flow and turbulent flow. We have compared performances of these airflow systems during operations by evaluating several indicators: number of airborne particles, microbial contamination, kinetics of decontamination, rate of mixing and an index of functionality.

Emergence of Enterobacter cloacae as a common pathogen in neonatal units: pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis.

In the first week of December 2002, three infants hospitalized in the neonatal department of our hospital had blood cultures positive with Enterobacter cloacae. Screening cultures and genotyping showed that 10 of 25 screened patients also carried E. cloacae and that nine isolates belonged to the same clone as that responsible for all three bacteraemias.

Modelling the usefulness of a dedicated cohort facility to prevent the dissemination of MRSA.

The aim of this retrospective study was to determine whether or not a surgical dedicated cohort facility, mainly dedicated to the care of orthopaedic patients, can control the risk of infection caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We tested this hypothesis on the orthopaedic surgery ward of a university-affiliated public hospital with 1228 beds by determining whether there was a significant correlation between the colonization pressure exerted by MRSA and the number of cases of acquired MRSA. This was then used as a tool to predict the number of patients contaminated with MRSA in hospitals with and without dedicated cohort facilities.

Characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains susceptible to tobramycin.

Gentamicin-susceptible, methicillin-resistant, Stapylococcus aureus strains (GS-MRSA) emerged in 1992 in various Parisian hospitals and have subsequently been isolated from all French hospitals. This new GS-MRSA epidemic clone accounted for 50% of MRSA strains in 1996 and for 85% in 2000 in our hospital. We have observed a parallel increase in the prevalence of tobramycin and amikacin-susceptible GS-MRSA (TKS-MRSA).

First report of a catalase-negative methicillin-resistant Staphalococcus aureus.

We report the first case of catalase-negative methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The isolated strain had phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the major epidemic clone spreading in our region with the exception that catalase activity could not be found.

[Risk factors and prevention of the acquisition and transmission of glycopeptide resistant enterococci].

We reviewed the literature concerning the role of antibiotic use as a risk factor for glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (VRE) infection/colonisation, to enable us to develop measures for preventing the acquisition and transmission of VRE. We found that the length of stay, the number of stays in hospital and the transfer of patients between hospitals and units were all risk factors for acquiring VRE infection. However, analysis of group and individual data showed that there was also a clear link between vancomycin and third-generation cephalosporin use and the prevalence of VRE colonisation/infection.

Clinical and molecular epidemiology of chromosome-mediated resistance to third-generation cephalosporins in Enterobacter isolates in eastern France.

Objective: To determine both the prevalence of group I beta-lactamase-related resistance and the clinical setting in which resistance to expanded-spectrum cephalosporins occurs.

Methods: Isolates of Enterobacter spp. were sensitivity tested to a range of antibiotics, and selected isolates were DNA fingerprinted by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.