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Int J Infect Dis
. 2020 Dec 28;S1201-9712(20)32596-0.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.072. Online ahead of print.
The impact of universal face masking and enhanced hand hygiene for COVID-19 disease prevention on the incidence of hospital acquired infections in a Taiwanese hospital
Shih-Hao Lo 1 , Chun-Yu Lin 2 , Ching-Tzu **** 3 , Jyun-Ji He 4 , Po-Liang Lu 5
Affiliations
- PMID: 33383221
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.072
Abstract
Objectives: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, strict infection control measures are implemented in healthcare settings and hospitals, including respiratory and hand hygiene. We investigated the impact of these control measures on the incidence rates of hospital acquired infections (HAI) and multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO) in a Taiwan medical center.
Methods: We compared the consumption of personal prevention resources and the incidence density of HAI and MDRO in a medical center in Taiwan from January to May in 2020, encapsulating the COVID-19 outbreak period in the study, to baseline data in the same timeframe in 2018 and 2019.
Results: There was no significant difference between the number of inpatient-days in 2020 and the numbers in 2018 and 2019. The consumption of either alcohol or surgical masks increased significantly in 2020. However, the overall HAI incidence density did not significantly differ from the rate at the baseline period. We found the incidence density of MDRO to be significantly lower in 2020, especially in carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus.
Conclusions: A collateral benefit from COVID-19 prevention measures on the incidence density of MDRO was observed in a hospital in Taiwan where the incidence of COVID-19 was low.
Keywords: coronavirus disease 2019; hospital acquired infection; multidrug resistant organism.