Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T13:24:40.510Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Burden of Infectious Gastroenteritis in Elderly Residents and Staff of Long-Term Care Facilities, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

M. D. Kirk*
Affiliation:
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Sydney, Australia OzFoodNet, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Sydney, Australia
C. R. M. Moffatt
Affiliation:
OzFoodNet, Australian Capital Territory Health, Sydney, Australia
G. V. Hall
Affiliation:
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Sydney, Australia
N. Becker
Affiliation:
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Sydney, Australia
R. Booy
Affiliation:
Canberra, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
L. Heron
Affiliation:
Canberra, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
R. MacIntyre
Affiliation:
Canberra, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
D. E. Dwyer
Affiliation:
Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia
R. Lindley
Affiliation:
Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
*
Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia (martyn.kirk@anu.edu.au)

Abstract

We estimated the incidence of gastroenteritis in 16 Australian long-term care facilities. During 12 months' surveillance, 245 (96%) of 254 episodes of gastroenteritis among long-term care residents were associated with 17 outbreaks in 11 facilities. Incidence in long-term care residents was 0.64 episodes per 1,000 bed-days (95% confidence interval, 0.29-1.42).

Type
Concise Communcations
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Kirk, M, Veitch, M, Hall, G. Food safety: gastroenteritis and foodborne disease in elderly people living in long-term care. Clin Infect Dis 2010;50:397404.Google Scholar
2.Laffan, AM. Burden of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in a long-term care facility. J Am Geriatr Soc 2006;54:10681073.Google Scholar
3.Ryan, MJ, Wall, PG, Adak, GK, et al.Outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease in residential institutions in England and Wales 1992-1994. J Infect 1997;34:4954.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Heudorf, U, Schulte, D. Surveillance of nosocomial infections in a long-term care facility: incidence and risk factors [in German]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 2009;52:732743.Google Scholar
5.Scheckler, WE, Peterson, PJ. Infections and infection control among residents of eight rural Wisconsin nursing homes. Arch Intern Med 1986;146:19811984.Google Scholar
6.Scallan, E, Majowicz, SE, Hall, G, et al.Prevalence of diarrhoea in the community in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United States. Int J Epidemiol 2005;34:454460.Google Scholar
7.Engelhart, ST, Hanses-Derendorf, L, Exner, M, Kramer, MH. Prospective surveillance for healthcare-associated infections in German nursing home residents. J Hosp Infect 2005;60:4650.Google Scholar
8.Eastwood, K, Osbourn, M, Francis, L, et al.Improving communicable disease outbreak preparedness in residential aged care facilities using an interventional interview strategy. Australas J Ageing 2008;27:143149.Google Scholar
9.Stevenson, KB, Moore, J, Colwell, H, Sleeper, B. Standardized infection surveillance in long-term care: interfacility comparisons from a regional cohort of facilities. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2005;26:231238.Google Scholar
10.Nicolle, LE, Mclntyre, M, Zacharias, H, MacDonell, JA. Twelve-month surveillance of infections in institutionalized elderly men. J Am Geriatr Soc 1984;32:513519.Google Scholar