Nosocomial infections in a neonatal intensive care unit in south-western Saudi Arabia.

A cohort study measured the occurrence and risk factors of nosocomial infections in the neonatal intensive care unit of Abha general hospital, Saudi Arabia. Of 401 neonates who stayed at least 48 hours in the unit, 77 developed infections, a period prevalence of 19.2% and an incidence of 13.7 infections per 1000 patient-days. The most frequent infections were: pneumonia (50.0%), primary bloodstream (40.9%) and skin and soft tissues (6.5%). In logistic regression analysis, mechanical ventilation (OR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.39-5.19) and total parenteral nutrition (OR = 5.62, 95% CI: 2.78-11.35) were identified as significant risk factors. Neonates suffering from nosocomial infections had more than 3 times the risk of dying compared to neonates free of infection.

Disinfection of gloves: feasible, but pay attention to the disinfectant/glove combination.

BACKGROUND: Compliance with hand hygiene is complicated by indications for hand disinfection in rapid succession during the care of one patient. In such situations, disinfection of gloves could facilitate better workflow and optimize compliance rates. AIM: We analysed the efficacy of disinfecting gloves by comparing an individual effect of five different hand disinfectant solutions in combination with three different glove types. METHODS: The investigation was performed in accordance with DIN EN 1500:2013. For all combinations, ten analyses were performed, including (1) right/left-hand examination disinfection efficacy after the first and fifth contamination with E. coli K12 NCTC 10538, (2) recovery rates after contamination, (3) reduction efficacy, (4) fingertip immersion culture, and (5) check for tightness. Disinfection of the ungloved hands was taken as an additional benchmark. FINDINGS: The disinfection efficacy for all disinfectant/glove combinations was better with rather than without gloves. For eight combinations, the disinfection efficacy was always >5.0 log10. There were significant differences within the gloves (P=0.0021) and within the disinfectant product (P=0.0023), respectively. In detail, Nitril Blue Eco-Plus performed significantly better than Vasco Braun (P=0.0017) and Latex Med Comfort (P=0.0493). Descoderm showed a significantly worse performance than Promanum pure (P=0.043). In the check for tightness, only the Vasco Braun gloves showed no leaks in all samples. There were relevant qualitative differences pertaining to the comfort of disinfecting gloves. CONCLUSION: The disinfection efficacy for the different disinfectant/glove combinations was greater than for the ungloved hands. However, various disinfectant/glove combinations produce relevant differences as regards disinfection efficacy.

Nosocomial infections in a neonatal intensive care unit in south-western Saudi Arabia

A cohort study measured the occurrence and risk factors of nosocomial infections in the neonatal intensive care unit of Abha general hospital, Saudi Arabia. Of 401 neonates who stayed at least 48 hours in the unit, 77 developed infections, a period prevalence of 19.2% and an incidence of 13.7 infections per 1000 patient-days. The most frequent infections were: pneumonia [50.0%], primary bloodstream [40.9%] and skin and soft tissues [6.5%]. In logistic regression analysis, mechanical ventilation [OR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.39-5.19] and total parenteral nutrition [OR = 5.62, 95% CI: 2.78-11.35] were identified as significant risk factors. Neonates suffering from nosocomial infections had more than 3 times the risk of dying compared to neonates free of infection