LETTER
Electronic Thermometers and Nosocomial Infections
Steven Avalos Bock
15 January 1993 | Volume 118 Issue 2 | Pages 156-157
TO THE EDITOR:
The article by Livornese and colleagues [1] was not the first report of a nocosomial outbreak of a pathogen in which the electronic thermometer was implicated as the mode of transmission.
In the February 1992 issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, Brooks and colleagues implicated similar contamination of the distal portion of the electronic thermometers by Clostridium difficile in nosocomial colonization and disease [2].
I was also disappointed that no recommendations for action were described. As an infection-control practitioner looking for new ways to reduce nosocomial infections, I was hoping to learn more.
1. Livornese L, Dias S, Samel C, Romanowski B, Taylor S, May P, et al. Hospital-acquired infection with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium transmitted by electronic thermometers. Ann Intern Med. 1992; 117:112-6.
2. Brooks S, Veal R, Kramer M, Dore L, Schupf N, Adachi M. Reduction in the incidence of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in an acute care hospital and a skilled nursing facility following replacement of electric thermometers with single-use disposables. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1992; 13:98-103.
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