SDD for the prevention and control of outbreaks

Abstract

Outbreaks of infection with multi-resistant microorganisms are an increasing problem in intensive care units. Such outbreaks lead to increased mortality, longer duration of stay, higher costs and reduced availability of ICU beds [1, 2]. Many guidelines advocate strict adherence to hygiene measures, patient isolation and antibiotic restriction, but in spite of good and sometimes even supervised adherence to these measures, they often fail to contain the outbreak [3, 4]. An outbreak sometimes results in the temporary closure of the ICU [5, 6]. The normal measures taken to control an outbreak cause a lot of extra work for the medical and nursing staff. It is therefore important to control outbreaks as soon as possible when they occur, and even more important to apply measures to prevent outbreaks. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Italia.