ABSTRACT
The prevalence of body lice among 2,288 sheltered homeless persons in the city of Marseille during 2000-2017 was 12.2% and significantly decreased over time. We report a positive association between body lice infestations and older age, duration of stays in France for migrants, frequent consumption of alcohol, and tobacco smoking.
Subject(s)
Ill-Housed Persons , Lice Infestations/epidemiology , Pediculus/physiology , Adult , Age Factors , Alcohol Drinking , Animals , Female , France/epidemiology , Humans , Lice Infestations/parasitology , Male , Middle Aged , Prevalence , Risk Factors , Tobacco Smoking , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Health care-associated infections are a major worldwide public health issue. Hand hygiene is a major component in the prevention of pathogen transmission in hospitals, and hand hygiene adherence by health care workers is low in many studies. We report an intervention using text messages as reminders and feedback to improve hand hygiene adherence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study is a historical comparison proof-of-concept study. Eighteen health care workers were monitored during 12 months by a radiofrequency identification system. Afterward we sent 2 types of text messages, congratulation or encouragement, and we studied the evolution of hand hygiene adherence. RESULTS: We recorded 15,723 hand hygiene opportunities, 8,973 before intervention and 6,750 during and after the intervention. Using a multilevel logistic regression analysis, we found a significant increase in hand hygiene adherence during the intervention (odds ratio, 1.68) compared with the historical period. DISCUSSION: Despite limitations due to the type of study, a text message encouraging personnel to be more vigilant is effective in increasing hand hygiene adherence in health care workers. CONCLUSIONS: Text message feedback should be incorporated into multimodal approaches for improving hand hygiene compliance.
