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Challenges in Outbreak Investigations in Intensive Care Units

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Critical Care Infectious Diseases Textbook

Abstract

Patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs) are at high risk of developing nosocomial infections. This is a result of severity of the patient’s illness and exposure to life-saving invasive devices and procedures. Each year, multiple hospital ICUs experience increases in nosocomial infections that represent an increase in the incidence over expected rates (i.e., nosocomial outbreaks). This chapter will review selected outbreaks affecting ICU populations (organized by pathogen/agent), approaches for investigating and controlling outbreaks in ICU populations, and special issues associated with outbreaks in ICU populations.

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Authors
  1. Belinda E. Ostrowky
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  2. William R. Jarvis
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hospital Universitari Joan XXIII, Tarragona, Spain

    Jordi Rello M.D., Ph.D.

  2. University Rovira & Virgili, Tarragona, Spain

    Jordi Rello M.D., Ph.D.

  3. Corporacio Sanitaria Parc Tauli, Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Valles M.D., Ph.D.

  4. Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

    Marin H. Kollef M.D.

  5. Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

    Marin H. Kollef M.D.

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Ostrowky, B.E., Jarvis, W.R. (2001). Challenges in Outbreak Investigations in Intensive Care Units. In: Rello, J., Valles, J., Kollef, M.H. (eds) Critical Care Infectious Diseases Textbook. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1679-8_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1679-8_22

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