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Norovirus leading cause of outbreaks across US hospitals
BALTIMORE — An outbreak investigation across US hospitals indicated that norovirus infections have become an increasingly common hospital-associated infection; norovirus outbreaks occurred most frequently in non-acute care settings, according to a poster here.
“Although much data exist related to the incidence of health care-associated infections in hospitals, there is little data regarding the frequency of outbreaks and outbreak investigations,” according to the poster presented at the 38th Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
Emily Rhinehart, RN, MPH, CIC, vice president of Global Loss Prevention of Chartis Insurance, and colleagues pooled data via a two-part email survey sent to APIC members across 289 US hospitals.
The first part of the survey inquired about hospital demographics and infection prevention and control programs; the second part inquired about specific outbreak investigations, particularly unit and department closings within the previous 2 years. The final cohort included 822 respondents and 386 outbreak investigations.
Overall, outbreak investigations were most frequent across non-teaching hospitals and facilities (between 201 and 300 beds). The mean number of confirmed cases was 10; mean duration was 58 days. Unit and departmental closings occurred in 22.6% of outbreak investigations and were most often associated with norovirus, the researchers wrote.
For more information:
- Rhinehart E. #5-026. Presented at: the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology’s (APIC) 38th Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting; June 27-29, 2011; Baltimore.
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