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Epidemiological patterns of klebsiella colonization and infection in an intensive care ward

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

M. W. Casewell
Affiliation:
St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, London, SE1 7EH
I. Phillips
Affiliation:
St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, London, SE1 7EH
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Summary

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Twenty-four per cent of 2315 patients admitted to the intensive care unit of St Thomas's Hospital in the 4 year period from November 1969 became colonized or infected with Klebsiella species. Capsular typing of 986 klebsiella isolates from 551 patients showed that there were 695 patient-isolates, mostly derived from the respiratory tract. Capsular types 47 and 21 were the commonest types and together accounted for 19·9% of the patient-isolates. The 14 commonest types accounted for 47·3% of all patient-isolates and all these strains showed clustering, strongly suggesting a changing common source, cross infection, or both.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

References

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