Airborne Aspergillus fumigatus contamination in an intensive care unit: Detection, management and control. Issue 6 (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Demuyser, Thomas; De Cock, Evelien; Sermijn, Erica
• Is Part Of: Journal of infection and public health. Volume 12:Issue 6(2019)
• Page Start: 904
• Page End: 906
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: Aspergillus -- Intensive care -- Contamination; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; Epidemiology -- Periodicals; Nosocomial infections -- Prevention -- Periodicals; Medical microbiology -- Periodicals; 614.4
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2019.04.016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1876-0341

Abstract

Abstract: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are often extremely vulnerable to suffer an infection from airborne pathogens. Therefore, an environmental outbreak of Aspergillus fumigatus in an ICU should be handled in a concise and efficient way. In this short report, we describe an outbreak of A. fumigatus in the ICU of a Belgian secondary care hospital. Following initial detection of a humidity problem and airborne A. fumigatus, the department of infection prevention took urgent measures for damage control and resolution of the problem. As such a timely resolution has been provided, with assurance of a clean and healthy environment for the critical patients.