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Mayo research: Intervention drops hospital infection rate by 1/3

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the one of the leading pathogens causing hospital-acquired infection in the United States. It may cause diarrhea, colitis, sepsis and lead to prolonged hospitalization and death. Mayo Clinic researchers say they’ve found a way to reduce the acquisition of this infection and drop its frequency to a fraction of what it had been.

The process involves consistent daily cleaning of all high-touch surfaces with a spore-killing bleach disinfectant wipe for all patients on units with high endemic rates of C. difficile infection. The findings are being presented today at a conference in Atlanta sponsored by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The goal was to reduce hospital-acquired C. difficile infection rates in two of our highest-incidence units by 30 percent,” says lead investigator Robert Orenstein, D.O. “Our data show we far exceeded that. When the study concluded near the end of last year, one unit had gone 137 days without a hospital-acquired C. difficile infection.” The team had hoped to increase the time between hospital-acquired cases to more than 20 days between infections.

The hospital rooms in the study were part of two units that housed general, gastrointestinal and pulmonary disease patients, averaging 39 patients a day. Each of these units has had high endemic rates of this infection. When the study began, one unit’s infection frequency was 61 per 10,000 patient days. The other was higher, at 106 cases per 10,000 patient days. The bleach wipes — containing 0.55 percent sodium hypochlorite — were selected because the bleach solution is the only product registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as effective against C. difficile spores.

Patients and staff tolerated this daily cleaning with the bleach wipes without significant concerns. Researchers concluded that this type of disinfection process was effective at reducing C. difficile infections on these units and should be instituted in other hospital units with high infection rates.

The study was initiated, designed and financed by Mayo Clinic. Others on the research team were Leslie Fedraw, Kimberly Aronhalt, R.N., and James McManus, all of Mayo Clinic.

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For more than 100 years, millions of people from all walks of life have found answers at Mayo Clinic. These patients tell us they leave Mayo Clinic with peace of mind knowing they received care from the world’s leading experts. Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. At Mayo Clinic, a team of specialists is assembled to take the time to listen, understand and care for patients’ health issues and concerns. These teams draw from more than 3,700 physicians and scientists and 50,100 allied staff that work at Mayo Clinic’s campuses in Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona; and community-based providers in more than 70 locations in southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. These locations treat more than half a million people each year. To best serve patients, Mayo Clinic works with many insurance companies, does not require a physician referral in most cases and is an in-network provider for millions of people. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education, visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com (www.mayoclinic.com) is available as a resource for your general health information.




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