Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control-Online Journal

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Infection Control Measures for Pulmonary Aspergillosis During Hospital Construction

Akihiko OKAYAMA, Mayumi FUKUDA, Yuji SAEKI, Ichiro TAKAJO and Yasutoshi HIRABARA
Center for Infection Control, Miyazaki University Hospital

Well-known causes of healthcare-associated infection of Aspergillus in compromised hosts such as neutropenic patients are hospital construction and renovation. To reduce the risk of infection, infection control risk assessment (ICRA) followed by the establishment of a protective environment (PE) has been recommended. In 2010, during the construction and renovation (2006-2013) of a teaching hospital in Miyazaki, Japan, increased positivity of Aspergillus in samples from patients was recognized. This event was considered to be due to pseudo-outbreak of Aspergillus because the number of patients clinically diagnosed with aspergillosis did not increase. ICRA and PE practices were reviewed by the infection control team. Following this, measures such as barriers to prevent the airborne dissemination of Aspergillus were improved, and the frequency of Aspergillus positive samples from patients decreased. This experience re-emphasized the importance of ICRA before the start of hospital construction and renovation followed by adequate measures such as barriers to prevent airborne dissemination, and the monitoring of markers for aspergillosis.

Key words：pseudo-outbreak of Aspergillus, hospital construction and renovation, infection control risk assessment (ICRA)

e-mail: okayama＠med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp

Received: September 20, 2017
Accepted: May 11, 2018

33 (4)：161─168,2018