title: A survey of the use of low microbial diets in pediatric bone marrow transplant programs.
abstract: A survey was used to determine the use of low microbial diets for pediatric bone marrow transplantation patients at hospitals in Canada and the northwestern United States. Five out of 7 hospitals responding to the survey provided a low microbial diet to this population to reduce the potential risk posed by food pathogens. Two hospitals prepared their low microbial diet in a separate kitchen using aseptic techniques. One hospital provided a diet consisting of well-cooked foods or foods containing a minimum number of pathogen-forming units. Another hospital focused on safe food-handling guidelines, avoiding foods associated with foodborne illness. A final hospital reported using a modified house diet that excluded fresh fruits and vegetables. Various guidelines were used to determine when to initiate and discontinue the low microbial diet. These guidelines included criteria such as a specific day relative to transplantation and a patient's absolute neutrophil count. Results indicate that most hospitals acknowledge the potential for food to cause infection in patients with compromised immune systems by imposing dietary restrictions to limit pathogen exposure.
authors.affiliation: Osteoporosis Research Program, Sunnybrook and Women's College of Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Levy-Milne
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zibrik
mesh_terms: D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004045:Dietary Services; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005521:Food Service, Hospital; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host / Q000276:immunology*; D009504:Neutrophils; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012308:Risk Management; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors