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Skin as a Source of Nosocomial Infection: Directions for Future Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Dennis G. Maki
Dennis G. Maki*
Affiliation:
Infection Control Department, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and the Section of the Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin
*
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics—H4/574, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI53792
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Extract

Whereas infections of the skin per se comprise only a fraction of all institutionally-acquired infections, the skin has become one of the most important reservoirs of nosocomial pathogens in the hospital. Professor Noble has provided a scholarly review of the increasing importance of the major constituents of the cutaneous microflora as nosocomial pathogens and what we know of their epidemiology. Unfortunately, the empiricism and limited scientific data which underlie essential infection control measures in this area, particularly in regard to cutaneous antisepsis and handwashing, is almost incongruous in an era in which controlled clinical trials have dominated most other areas of medicine. The numerous outbreaks traced to contaminated antiseptics and disinfectants over the past two decades, stand as mute testimony to the inadequate investigative attention this area has received.

Type
Research Article
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 7 , supplement S2: Proceedings of the Second ICI/Stuart Workshop , February 1986 , pp. 113 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1986

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