THOUGH the atiology of influenza has for 30 years been the concern of virus workers, the secondary ravages of bacteria are still recognized to be a very important feature of the disease. I shall not attempt a wide survey of this subject, which would take me far outside my own province, but will consider the role of bacteria in patients admitted to hospital with influenza during recent outbreaks...

OBJECTIVES We tested a previously published model for the analysis of the temporal relationship between antibiotic use and the incidence of Clostridium difficile infection in a hospital with stable incidence of infection at >1 case per 1000 admissions per month. METHODS The study period was from April 2004 to June 2008 and used data from Infection Control and Hospital Pharmacy. We first descr...

BACKGROUND The effect of hospital-acquired infection with Clostridium difficile on length of stay in hospital is not yet fully understood. We determined the independent impact of hospital-acquired infection with C. difficile on length of stay in hospital. METHODS We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of admissions to hospital between July 1, 2002, and Mar. 31, 2009, at a sin...

The control of nosocomial infections depends on a surveillance system that will detect and identify problems at the time that they occur. During the past year, infection control at Springfield Hospital Medical Center was considerably strengthened by the addition of a full-time Infection Control Nurse and appointment of an Infection Control Officer. The latter position is presently filled by the...

OBJECTIVE Hospital infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of hospital infection and risk factors associated with it. METHODS This is a prospective study of a sample of 332 elderly people, 60 years and older, interned in a university hospital, between September 1999 and February 2000. Samp...