Cluster of severe acute respiratory syndrome cases among protected health-care workers--Toronto, Canada, April 2003.
Infections among health-care workers (HCWs) have been a common feature of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) since its emergence. The majority of these infections have occurred in locations where infection-control precautions either had not been instituted or had been instituted but were not followed. Recommended infection-control precautions include the use of negative-pressure isolation rooms where available; N95 or higher level of respiratory protection; gloves, gowns, and eye protection; and careful hand hygiene. This report summarizes a cluster of SARS cases among HCWs in a hospital that occurred despite apparent compliance with recommended infection-control precautions.
D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000635:transmission