Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New Challenge
Infections are among the most important occupational risks for healthcare workers. Some infections can be prevented through vaccination but, in other cases, there are no vaccines to prevent them, as happens with infections from antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Precautions related with transmission route and contact isolation or respiratory isolation are very important in order to protect healthcare workers and other patients. In this paper, the authors reviewed biological hazards for healthcare workers and described the procedures undertaken by an occupational health department (OHD) of a Portuguese hospital where vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) was isolated from a patient, for the first time in Europe. After the VRSA strain isolation, healthcare workers were instructed to adopt contact preventive measures. Nasal swabs were cultured weekly in 33 healthcare workers for several weeks until the patients culture changed to negative. In the meantime, OHD prepared actions to adopt in case of VRSA colonization or infection in healthcare workers.
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Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública
2018
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oai:scielo:S2504-314520180001000052019-01-31Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New ChallengeSacadura-Leite,EmaMendonça-Galaio,LuísShapovalova,OlenaPereira,IsabelRocha,ReginaSousa-Uva,António Biological hazards Healthcare workers Infections Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Hospitals Infections are among the most important occupational risks for healthcare workers. Some infections can be prevented through vaccination but, in other cases, there are no vaccines to prevent them, as happens with infections from antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Precautions related with transmission route and contact isolation or respiratory isolation are very important in order to protect healthcare workers and other patients. In this paper, the authors reviewed biological hazards for healthcare workers and described the procedures undertaken by an occupational health department (OHD) of a Portuguese hospital where vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) was isolated from a patient, for the first time in Europe. After the VRSA strain isolation, healthcare workers were instructed to adopt contact preventive measures. Nasal swabs were cultured weekly in 33 healthcare workers for several weeks until the patients culture changed to negative. In the meantime, OHD prepared actions to adopt in case of VRSA colonization or infection in healthcare workers.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessEscola Nacional de Saúde PúblicaPortuguese Journal of Public Health v.36 n.1 20182018-01-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articletext/htmlhttp://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2504-31452018000100005en10.1159/000487746 |
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Sacadura-Leite,Ema Mendonça-Galaio,Luís Shapovalova,Olena Pereira,Isabel Rocha,Regina Sousa-Uva,António |
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Sacadura-Leite,Ema Mendonça-Galaio,Luís Shapovalova,Olena Pereira,Isabel Rocha,Regina Sousa-Uva,António Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New Challenge |
author_facet |
Sacadura-Leite,Ema Mendonça-Galaio,Luís Shapovalova,Olena Pereira,Isabel Rocha,Regina Sousa-Uva,António |
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Sacadura-Leite,Ema |
title |
Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New Challenge |
title_short |
Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New Challenge |
title_full |
Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New Challenge |
title_fullStr |
Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New Challenge |
title_full_unstemmed |
Biological Hazards for Healthcare Workers: Occupational Exposure to Vancomycin-Resistant - Staphylococcus aureus as an Example of a New Challenge |
title_sort |
biological hazards for healthcare workers: occupational exposure to vancomycin-resistant - staphylococcus aureus as an example of a new challenge |
description |
Infections are among the most important occupational risks for healthcare workers. Some infections can be prevented through vaccination but, in other cases, there are no vaccines to prevent them, as happens with infections from antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Precautions related with transmission route and contact isolation or respiratory isolation are very important in order to protect healthcare workers and other patients. In this paper, the authors reviewed biological hazards for healthcare workers and described the procedures undertaken by an occupational health department (OHD) of a Portuguese hospital where vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) was isolated from a patient, for the first time in Europe. After the VRSA strain isolation, healthcare workers were instructed to adopt contact preventive measures. Nasal swabs were cultured weekly in 33 healthcare workers for several weeks until the patients culture changed to negative. In the meantime, OHD prepared actions to adopt in case of VRSA colonization or infection in healthcare workers. |
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Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública |
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2018 |
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http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2504-31452018000100005 |
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