title: About the usefulness of contact precautions for carriers of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Extended-spectrum β-lactamases producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-E) are increasingly identified in health care facilities. As previously done for the control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, many hospitals have established screening strategies for early identification of patients being carriers of ESBL producers in general and ESBL-E in particular, and have implemented contact precautions (CP) for infected and colonized patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The incidence of ESBL-E has been compared retrospectively between two French university hospitals (A and B) with different infection control policies over a 5-year long period of time (2006-2010).
  
  
  RESULTS
  While hospital A only implemented standard precautions after identification of patients colonized with ESBL-E, hospital B recommended additional CP. During the period of the study, the ESBL-E incidence rate significantly increased in both hospitals, but no significant difference was observed between the two hospitals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This observational study did not reveal that additional CP measures had a greater impact on the incidence of ESBL-E in hospital settings.
authors.affiliation: Infection Control Unit, CHU Angers, Angers, France. JeanRalph.Zahar@chu-angers.fr.|Service de Microbiologie-Hygiène, Hôpital Necker-Enfants-Malades, Paris, France. JeanRalph.Zahar@chu-angers.fr.
authors.forename: Jean-Ralph
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Zahar
authors.affiliation: Service de Bactériologie - Hygiène, Hôpital de Bicêtre, K.-Bicêtre, France. laurent.poirel@unifr.ch.|Department of Medicine, Medical and Molecular Microbiology « Emerging Antibiotic Resistance » Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, Rue Albert Gockel 3, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland. laurent.poirel@unifr.ch.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Poirel
authors.affiliation: Service de Bactériologie - Hygiène, Hôpital de Bicêtre, K.-Bicêtre, France. claire.dupont@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dupont
authors.affiliation: Service de Bactériologie - Hygiène, Hôpital de Bicêtre, K.-Bicêtre, France. nicolas.fortineau@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fortineau
authors.affiliation: Service de Microbiologie-Hygiène, Hôpital Necker-Enfants-Malades, Paris, France. x.nassif@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Nassif
authors.affiliation: Service de Bactériologie - Hygiène, Hôpital de Bicêtre, K.-Bicêtre, France. patrice.nordmann@unifr.ch.|Department of Medicine, Medical and Molecular Microbiology « Emerging Antibiotic Resistance » Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, Rue Albert Gockel 3, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland. patrice.nordmann@unifr.ch.|Hôpital Fribourgeois-hôpital Cantonal, Fribourg, Switzerland. patrice.nordmann@unifr.ch.
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nordmann
mesh_terms: D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D002648:Child; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010297:Paris / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018440:beta-Lactam Resistance; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001618:beta-Lactamases