Evaluation of an interdisciplinary re-isolation policy for patients with previous Clostridium difficile diarrhea.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile is increasingly recognized as a nosocomial problem. The effectiveness and cost of a new program to decrease nosocomial spread by identifying patients scheduled for readmission who were previously positive for toxin was evaluated. METHODS: The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is a 410-bed comprehensive cancer center in New York City. Many patients are readmitted during their course of cancer therapy. In 1995 as a result of concern about the nosocomial spread of C difficile, we implemented a policy that all patients who were positive for C difficile toxin in the previous 6 months with no subsequent toxin-negative stool as an outpatient would be placed into contact isolation on readmission pending evaluation of stool specimens. Patients who were previously positive for C difficile toxin were identified to infection control and admitting office databases via computer. Admitting personnel contacted infection control with all readmissions to determine whether a private room was required. RESULTS: Between July 1, 1995, and June 30, 1996, 47 patients who were previously positive for C difficile toxin were readmitted. Before their first scheduled readmission, the specimens for 15 (32%) of these patients were negative for C difficile toxin. They were subsequently cleared as outpatients and were readmitted without isolation. Workup of the remaining 32 patients revealed that the specimens for 7 patients were positive for C difficile toxin and 86 isolation days were used. An additional 25 patients used 107 isolation days and were either cleared after a negative specimen was obtained in-house or discharged without having an appropriate specimen sent. Four patients (9%) had reoccurring C difficile after having toxin-negative stools. We estimate (because outpatient specimens were not collected) the cost incurred at $48,500 annually, including the incremental cost of hospital isolation and equipment. CONCLUSION: Our policy to control the spread of nosocomial C difficile required interdisciplinary cooperation between infection control and the admitting department. By identifying patients who were positive for toxin through admitting, we were able to place all potentially infected patients into isolation. Our positivity rate of 15% on readmission demonstrates the importance of this policy. The cost of controlling C difficile can be significantly lowered by clearing patients who were previously positive for toxin before hospital readmission.

Prevention of skin colonization and subsequent bacteremia with CDC-JK organisms in patients with cancer.

A 10-year experience with a program designed to reduce the incidence of bacteremias in the cancer patient, specifically those caused by Corynebacterium CDC-JK, is presented. Retrospective chart reviews identified patients at risk and generated the hypothesis that special attention to body hygiene may play a significant role. Implementation of a skin hygiene program resulted in a significant decrease in the incidence of CDC-JK bacteremias in Memorial Hospital patients.

Nosocomial outbreak of Klebsiella infection resistant to late-generation cephalosporins.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology, antimicrobial susceptibility, and control of widespread ceftazidime-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae infections in a North American hospital and circumstances that led to delayed detection. DESIGN: A 2-year epidemiologic, microbiologic, and clinical cohort study. SETTING: A 487-bed general hospital in New York City. PATIENTS AND CLINICAL ISOLATES: Patient records were reviewed retrospectively and prospectively. Isolates were obtained from the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. RESULTS: Four hundred thirty-two isolates of ceftazidime-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae were recovered during a 19-month study period. The peak incidence reached 17.3% of all Klebsiella isolates. One hundred fifty-five patients were colonized or infected, representing more than 70 per 1000 average daily census. Infections occurred in 39% of patients from whom ceftazidime-resistant Klebsiella was isolated. These included 14 bacteremias and 17 pulmonary infections among 52 infected patients. The outbreak coincided with increasing use of ceftazidime therapy for multiresistant Acinetobacter infections. Reduction in ceftazidime use and barrier precautions markedly reduced the incidence of colonization and infection. Ceftriaxone, ceftizoxime, cefotaxime, and cephamycins were inhibitory, but not bactericidal, against ceftazidime-resistant Klebsiella and appeared effective by routine disc diffusion tests. In contrast, imipenem provided consistent bactericidal activity. Preliminary studies indicated that the outbreak was caused by one or more plasmid-mediated beta lactamases. CONCLUSIONS: Nosocomial ceftazidime-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae may be resistant to the bactericidal activity of all cephalosporins and cephamycins. Such isolates appear susceptible to cephalosporins other than ceftazidime by routine disc diffusion testing. Ineffective therapy, delayed detection of resistance, and epidemic spread are potential consequences. Imipenem provides consistent bactericidal activity. Ceftazidime restriction and barrier precautions for colonized and infected patients are effective control measures.