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HCWs at risk for C. difficile from patients with resolved symptoms
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CHICAGO — New findings from researchers at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center suggest that health care workers in outpatient clinics are at risk for contamination of Clostridium difficile infection, even when treating patients whose symptoms have resolved.
Sirisha Kundrapu, MD, clinical research coordinator at the medical center, and colleagues set out to examine 22 patients who were diagnosed with C. difficile infection within the previous 2 months and were seen in outpatient clinics. The median age of the patients was 66 years; 22% resided in long-term care facilities.
Rectal swab cultures were obtained to determine the frequency of C. difficile carriage; gloved hand print cultures were collected from health care workers (HCWs) after coming in contact with patients’ skin and environmental sites in the examination room.
Swab cultures were positive for 32% of patients; 23% were still being treated for CDI; 5% had diarrhea. Of the glove cultures that tested positive, mean numbers of CDI spores acquired after contact with skin sites was 18 and five for environmental sites.
For more information:
- Kundrapu S. #K-196. Presented at: the 2011 ICAAC; Sept. 17-20; Chicago.
Disclosure: Dr. Kundrapu reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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