Pro/con clinical debate: isolation precautions for all intensive care unit patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization are essential.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are an increasingly common problem in intensive care units (ICUs), and they are capable of impacting on patient outcome, the ICU's budget and bed availability. This issue, coupled with recent outbreaks of illnesses that pose a direct risk to ICU staff (such as SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome]), has led to renewed emphasis on infection control measures and practitioners in the ICU. Infection control measures frequently cause clinicians to practice in a more time consuming way. As a result it is not surprising that ensuring compliance with these measures is not always easy, particularly when their benefit is not immediately obvious. In this issue of Critical Care, two experts face off over the need to isolate patients infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Farr
Barry M
BM
The William S Jordan Jr Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Bellingan
Geoffrey
G
D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D016357:Infection Control Practitioners; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000592:standards*; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D010356:Patient Isolation; D015995:Prevalence; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States