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Tighter IC rules adopted after outbreak involving wound-care tool

Infection Control Monitor, January 14, 2005

Johns Hopkins Hospital has put in place new infection control (IC) procedures in the wake of an outbreak of anti-microbial-resistant bacterium stemming from the use of a wound-care tool, Lab Law Weekly reports.

During a two-month period in 2003, Acinetobacter baumanni infected 11 patients. Epidemiologists traced the source of the infections back to a hand-held, high-pressure, water-pumping tool used to wash and clean wounds. They concluded that the tool sprayed the potentially dangerous bacteria into the air and onto surfaces in an open treatment room with other patients nearby.

The new IC procedures include requiring staff to wear masks, gowns, and gloves during procedures. Healthcare workers must now perform those procedures using the water-gun like equipment in private treatment rooms that are fully disinfected between patients to reduce the possibility of cross contamination between patients and staff.

Also as a result of the findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a leading manufacturer of the device have agreed to change the product's labeling to include use of routine IC procedures.

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