Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-09T01:17:21.901Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the general hospital: a six-year survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

D. M. Harris  and
P. B. Gray
D. M. Harris
Affiliation:
Departments of Bacteriology and Histology, Royal Hospital, Sheffield
P. B. Gray
Affiliation:
Departments of Bacteriology and Histology, Royal Hospital, Sheffield
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The incidence of infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa did not increase significantly among general surgical and medical patients between 1967 and 1972, and the majority of such infections were trivial. Serious infections were virtually confined to the intensive care unit and the renal transplant unit, and were usually associated with major trauma, surgical mishap or immunosuppression. The majority of these patients had received prior antibiotic therapy. Persistent isolation of Ps. aeruginosa from surgical wounds was often associated with severe intra-abdominal sepsis, and antibacterial therapy was commonly ineffective in these cases. Apparently susceptible patients did not necessarily acquire infection, though the organism was present in their environment. It is suggested that this may reflect a variation of virulence among environmental strains of Ps. aeruginosa, and that further study of this aspect may contribute to improved control of infection.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , October 1974 , pp. 249 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

References

REFERENCES

Adler, J. L., Burke, J. P. & Finland, M. (1971). Infection and antibiotic usage at Boston City Hospital, January 1970. Archives of Internal Medicine 127, 460.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dans, P. E., Barrett, F. F., Casey, J. I. & Finland, M. (1970). Klebsiella-Enterobacter at Boston City Hospital, 1967. Archives of Internal Medicine 125, 94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillies, R. R. & Govan, J. R. W. (1966). Typing of Pseudomonas pyocyanea by pyocine production. Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology 91, 339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gould, J. C. (1963). Pseudomonas pyocyanea infections in hospital. In ‘Infection in Hospitals’, eds. Williams, R. E. O. and Shooter, R. A., p. 119. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Harris, D. M. (1973). Staphylococcal infection in an intensive care unit and its relation to infection in the remainder of the hospital. Journal of Hygiene 71, 341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, D. M., Orwin, J. M., Colquhoun, J. & Schroeder, H. G. (1969). Control of cross-infection in an intensive care unit. Journal of Hygiene 67, 525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klastersky, J., Beuner, J. & Daneau, D. (1971). Bacteriophage typing and antibiotic susceptibility of Staph. aureus. Applied Microbiology 22, 1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, P. V. (1964). Factors that influence the toxigenicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Journal of Bacteriology 88, 1421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lowbury, E. J. L., Thom, B. T., Lilly, H. A., Babb, J. R. & Whittall, K. (1970). Sources of infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with tracheostomy. Journal of Medical Microbiology 3, 39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noone, P. & Shafi, M. S. (1973). Controlling infection in a district general hospital. Journal of Clinical Pathology 26, 140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, D. J. E. & Sleigh, J. D. (1970). Control of infection due to Klebsiella aerogenes in a neurosurgical unit by withdrawal of antibiotics. Lancet ii, 1213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teres, D., Schweers, P., Bushnell, L. S., Medley-White, J. & Feingold, D. S. (1973). Sources of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in a respiratory-surgical intensive therapy unit. Lancet i, 415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar