Sung Ran Kim

Risk factors for device-associated infection related to organisational characteristics of intensive care units: findings from the Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System.

Device-associated infections (DAIs) have been the major causes of morbidity and mortality of patients in intensive care units (ICUs). This study evaluated the risk factors for DAIs in ICUs. Ninety-six medical or surgical ICUs of 56 hospitals participated in the Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System between July 2007 and June 2008. The occurrence of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), central line-associated bloodstream infection (CABSI), and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) were monitored and DAI rates were calculated. Data associated with ICU characteristics were collected and Poisson regression was used for statistical analysis. Rates of CAUTI, CABSI, and VAP were 3.87 per 1000 urinary catheter days, 2.23 per 1000 central line days, and 1.89 per 1000 mechanical ventilator days, respectively. Rates of CAUTI were higher in ICUs in Seoul (P=0.032) and ICUs of major teaching hospitals (P=0.010). The ICUs of university-affiliated hospitals showed lower CAUTI rates (P=0.013). CABSI rates were higher in Seoul (P=0.001) and in medical ICUs (P=0.026). VAP rates were lower in ICUs of hospitals with more than 900 beds compared with hospitals with 400-699 beds (P=0.026). VAP rates were higher in surgical ICUs (P<0.0001) and increased 1.13-fold with each 100-unit increase in beds per infection control professional (P=0.003). The organisational and institutional characteristics of ICUs may influence DAI rates and there is a need for improvement in the incidence of VAP, CAUTI or CABSI.

Dose sparing strategy with intradermal influenza vaccination in patients with solid cancer.

Influenza vaccine is considered to reduce influenza‐related morbidity and mortality in patients with underlying chronic medical conditions. Because of fear of vaccine shortage during an influenza pandemic, several antigen sparing strategies have been investigated. The immunogenicity of intradermal influenza vaccination with one half the antigenic contents was compared to that of conventional intramuscular vaccination in patients with solid cancer, and adverse events were assessed after vaccination. There was no significant difference between the injection routes in the hemagglutinin inhibition (HI) response and increase in the titer of A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B 4–6 weeks after the vaccination; seroconversion factors increased by more than 2.5‐fold. Seroresponse rates were more than 40% and seroprotection rates were above 70% against all three influenza strains irrespective of the vaccination routes. No serious events were observed, and local skin reactions were more frequent in the intradermal injection recipients than in the intramuscular recipients (32.7% vs. 9.1%). This study shows that intradermal injection of one half the dose of a commercial influenza vaccine elicits immune responses comparable to those elicited by a full dose of intramuscular vaccine among cancer patients, and it can be tolerated without serious adverse reactions. J. Med. Virol. 81:722–727, 2009

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Infection Control and Prevention Guideline for Healthcare Facilities

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is an acute viral respiratory illness with high mortality caused by a new strain of betacoronavirus (MERS-CoV). Since the report of the first patient in Saudi Arabia in 2012, large-scale outbreaks through hospital-acquired infection and inter-hospital transmission have been reported. Most of the patients reported in South Korea were also infected in hospital settings. Therefore, to eliminate the spread of MERS-CoV, infection prevention and control measures should be implemented with rigor. The present guideline has been drafted on the basis of the experiences of infection control in the South Korean hospitals involved in the recent MERS outbreak and on domestic and international infection prevention and control guidelines. To ensure efficient MERS-CoV infection prevention and control, care should be taken to provide comprehensive infection control measures including contact control, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, disinfection, and environmental cleaning.

Viral Shedding and Environmental Cleaning in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection

Viral shedding lasted 31 and 19 days from symptom onset in two patients with east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) pneumonia, respectively. Environmental real-time RT-PCR was weakly positive for bed guardrail and monitors. Even after cleaning the monitors with 70% alcohol-based disinfectant, RT-PCR was still weakly positive, and converted to negative only after wiping with diluted sodium chlorite. Further studies are required to clarify the appropriate methods to clean environments during and after treatment of patients with MERS-CoV infection.

Guideline on the prevention and control of seasonal influenza in healthcare setting.

Background and purpose Influenza is an acute respiratory disease caused by influenza virus infection. In Korea, epidemic occurs mostly in winter. The characteristic symptoms of influenza consist of abrupt fever, cough, fatigue and other constitutional and respiratory symptoms. Influenza is usually a self-limiting illness without complications, but some patients at higher risk can experience severe complications or die. Influenza is a contagious disease that infects many patients in a short period, so the spread of influenza in the community can lead to public health issues or socioeconomic problems. Influenza within a medical institution has a different epidemiology and effects compared to influenza in the community. Medical institutions have high number of visits from influenza patients and wards are crowded with high risk patients. Therefore, there is a high possibility that influenza can spread between patients in a medical institution, and influenza can cause more complications and mortality in this setting. Hence, to minimize the damage from influenza in a medical institution, the effective infection control measures are important to prevent influenza and its spread. The purpose of this guideline is to prevent and control seasonal influenza in a medical institution based on the evidences and current situation in Korea.

Trends of device utilization ratios in intensive care units during 10 years in South Korea : Results from the Korean National Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance System

Abstract Background Device-associated healthcare-associated infection (DA-HAI) is an important issue related to safety of patients. It is important to reduce unnecessary device utilization in order to decrease DA-HAI rates. Therefore, we investigate to the time trend of device utilization (DU) ratios and DA-HAI rates to analyzed collected data for 10 years through the Korean National Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance System (KONIS) which is voluntarily participating in hospitals. Methods We investigate the time trend of DU ratios and DA-HAI rates from 2006 through 2015 in KONIS participating intensive care units (ICUs). DA-HAI rates were calculated as the numbers of infections per 1,000 device-days and DU were calculated as a ratio of device-days to patient-days. The pooled incidences of DAIs and DU ratios were calculated for each year of participation. Results Data were collected on 5,325,176 catheter-days and 6,358,829 patient-days in the 190 participating ICUs between July 2006 and June 2016. From 2006 to 2015, year-wise ventilator utilization ratio (V-UR) per 1000 patients-days increased significantly from 0.40 to 0.454 (F = 6.27, P < 0.0001), year-wise urinary catheter utilization ratio (UC-UR) show gradually increased trend from 0.83 to 0.84 but non-significantly (F = 1.66, P = 0.0951), and year-wise c-line utilization ratio (CL-UR) was gradually decreased non-significantly from 0.55 to 0.52 (F = 1.62, P = 0.1059). In subgroup analysis, Medical ICU (F = 2.79, P = 0.0034) or hospital with more than 900 beds (F = 3.07, P = 0.0015) related to increased significantly V-UR. Rate of ventilator associated pneumonia significantly decreased from 3.48 in 2006 to 1.00 in 2015 (per 1000 ventilator-days, F = 27.62, P < 0.0001). Also, rates of catheter associated UTI and c-line associated blood stream infection significantly decreased from 1.85 to 0.88 (per 1000 catheter-days, F = 10.14, P < 0.0001) and from 3.40 to 2.20 (per 1000 catheter-days, F = 14.17, P < 0.0001). Conclusion In Korea, all of the DA-HAIs have shown a significant reduction in the last 10 years, however V-UR has year-wise significantly increased trend for past 10-years, also UC-UR and CL-UR have not decreased trend significantly. We need effort to make reduction of device utilization ratios. Disclosures E. J. Kim, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Investigator, Research support; Y. HOURS. Choi, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; H. Y. Kim, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support; Y. G. Kwak, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support; T. H. Kim, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; H. B. Kim, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; S. H. Park, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; M. Lee, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; S. O. Lee, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; J. Y. Choi, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; P. G. Choe, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; S. K. Lim, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research grant; S. R. Kim, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support; 
 M. J. Shin, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support; S. Y. Yoo, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support; H. Yoo, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support; 
 J. Y. Choi, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support; S. H. Han, Korean Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (KONIS): Board Member, Research support