Thread: Arkansas Hospital Closes

Arkansas Hospital Closes Intensive Care Unit Due to Drug-Resistent Bacterial Infection
Friday, November 02, 2007

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

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A hospital in Arkansas has isolated its entire intensive care unit and isn't admitting new patients due to the outbreak of a potentially deadly drug-resistant bacterial infection, FOXNews.com has confirmed.

All ICU patients at St. Joseph's Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs, Ark., have been isolated and forced to remain in the unit, said Dr. Vineet Chopra, director of the hospital's medicine program and the chair of the infection control committee.

The drug-resistant bacteria known as acinetobacter affected six critically ill patients so far, four of them in intensive care and the other two in the general medical population, Chopra said.

The strain bears similarities to so-called "staph" infections but is unrelated, Chopra said. It tends to afflict very sick people, can be fatal and is the third most common bacterial infection in hospital ICUs.

Doctors at St. Joseph's noticing an "unusual cluster" of the infection Thursday night stopped new admissions to the intensive care unit and blocked the area to visitors, Chopra said. The ICU was quarantined beginning about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

Staff have not been affected, and have been allowed to come and go as long as they wear protective gear when treating the infected patients, according to Chopra. The hospital's other ICU patients are all being tested, he said.

St. Joseph's is working with the Centers for Disease Control, the state health department and other officials offering guidance on how to handle the situation.

Chopra said the six patients were infected by the organism and received intravenous antibiotics as treatment. So far, he said, they're "responding well."

It is not known how the pathogen acinetobacter was introduced to the patients.

The infection was not caused by the more common methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus bacteria, but the acinetobacter shows similar drug resistance.

The hospital says that acinetobacter is common, as is staph bacteria. Healthy people generally are not threatened by it.

The state Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have been notified, and one or both will send representatives to ensure proper steps are taken to end the outbreak.

The hospital is putting off elective surgeries for a few days, and potential ICU patients will be diverted to another hospital.

The CDC's Web site says acinetobacter is found on the skin of healthy people, especially healthcare workers. The site says acinetobacter infections typically occur in intensive care units and healthcare settings housing very ill patients.

Acinetobacter infections can bring symptoms that include pneumonia or serious blood or wound infections. The site says hand washing and environmental cleaning can help prevent the spread.

Paige,

Do you have a link for this article?

Dixie

That is the second link that has not gone through. Let me try again.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307700,00.html