From the ArcaMax Publishing, Science & Technology Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/technology/s-183480-348672
BALTIMORE (UPI) -- A study of adults admitted to Baltimore's Johns
Hopkins Hospital shows those from nursing homes were likely to be
infected with drug-resistant bacteria.
The study was intended to grasp the extent of one of the lesser known
hospital superbugs -- multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter.
Results showed patients who had been in nursing homes, either admitted
to Hopkins directly from a long-term care facility or transferred from
home or another community hospital, were 12 times more likely than
other patients to be carriers of the bacterium. Rates were even
higher, 22 times, among those patients who were wheelchair- or
bed-bound because their legs were paralyzed.
As a result of the study, Johns Hopkins Hospital officials will begin
this summer to test all patients who have spent time in a nursing
home, looking for drug-resistant bacteria at the outset of their
hospital admission, while also using isolation precautions until the
test results are known.
The study was presented Monday in Baltimore during a meeting of the
Society of Health Care Epidemiology.