OBJECTIVE: The skin is a potential source for invasive infections in neonates from developing countries such as Bangladesh, where the level of environmental contamination is exceedingly high. A randomized controlled trial was conducted from 1998 to 2003 in the Special Care Nursery of a tertiary hospital in Bangladesh to test the effectiveness of topical emollient therapy in enhancing the skin barrier of preterm neonates less than 33 weeks of gestational age. In the initial months of the study, the infection and mortality rates were noted to be unacceptably high. Therefore, an infection control program was introduced early in the trial to reduce the rate of nosocomial infections. STUDY DESIGN: After a comprehensive review of neonatal care practices and equipment to identify sources of nosocomial infections, a simple but comprehensive infection control program was introduced that emphasized education of staff and caregivers about measures to decrease risk of contamination, particularly hand-washing, proper disposal of infectious waste, and strict asepsis during procedures, as well as prudent use of antibiotics. RESULTS: Infection control efforts resulted in declines in episodes of suspected sepsis (47%), cases of culture-proven (61%) sepsis, patients with a clinical diagnosis of sepsis (79%), and deaths with clinical (82%) or culture-proven sepsis (50%). CONCLUSION: The infection control program was shown to be a simple, low-cost, low-technology intervention to reduce substantially the incidence of septicemia and mortality in the nursery.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: The skin is a potential source for invasive infections in neonates from developing countries such as Bangladesh, where the level of environmental contamination is exceedingly high. A randomized controlled trial was conducted from 1998 to 2003 in the Special Care Nursery of a tertiary hospital in Bangladesh to test the effectiveness of topical emollient therapy in enhancing the skin barrier of preterm neonates less than 33 weeks of gestational age. In the initial months of the study, the infection and mortality rates were noted to be unacceptably high. Therefore, an infection control program was introduced early in the trial to reduce the rate of nosocomial infections. STUDY DESIGN: After a comprehensive review of neonatal care practices and equipment to identify sources of nosocomial infections, a simple but comprehensive infection control program was introduced that emphasized education of staff and caregivers about measures to decrease risk of contamination, particularly hand-washing, proper disposal of infectious waste, and strict asepsis during procedures, as well as prudent use of antibiotics. RESULTS:Infection control efforts resulted in declines in episodes of suspected sepsis (47%), cases of culture-proven (61%) sepsis, patients with a clinical diagnosis of sepsis (79%), and deaths with clinical (82%) or culture-proven sepsis (50%). CONCLUSION: The infection control program was shown to be a simple, low-cost, low-technology intervention to reduce substantially the incidence of septicemia and mortality in the nursery.
Authors: Amnesty LeFevre; Samuel D Shillcutt; Samir K Saha; A S M Nawshad Uddin Ahmed; Saifuddin Ahmed; Mak Azad Chowdhury; Paul A Law; Robert Black; Mathuram Santosham; Gary L Darmstadt Journal: Bull World Health Organ Date: 2010-01-08 Impact factor: 9.408
Authors: Jennifer M Litzow; Christopher J Gill; Jose B V Mantaring; Matthew P Fox; William B MacLeod; Myrna Mendoza; Sookee Mendoza; Rebecca Scobie; Charles W Huskins; Donald A Goldman; David H Hamer Journal: Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol Date: 2009-06 Impact factor: 3.254
Authors: John P Elder; Willo Pequegnat; Saifuddin Ahmed; Gretchen Bachman; Merry Bullock; Waldemar A Carlo; Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli; Nathan A Fox; Sara Harkness; Gillian Huebner; Joan Lombardi; Velma McBride Murry; Allisyn Moran; Maureen Norton; Jennifer Mulik; Will Parks; Helen H Raikes; Joseph Smyser; Caroline Sugg; Michael Sweat; Nurper Ulkuer Journal: J Health Commun Date: 2014
Authors: Luis F Vélez; Mary Sanitato; Donna Barry; Martin Alilio; Franklin Apfel; Gloria Coe; Amparo Garcia; Michelle Kaufman; Jonathan Klein; Vesna Kutlesic; Lisa Meadowcroft; Wendy Nilsen; Gael O'Sullivan; Stefan Peterson; Daniel Raiten; Susan Vorkoper Journal: J Health Commun Date: 2014