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Indoor and Built Environment
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Causes and Control Measures in Hospital Outbreaks of Epidemic Keratoconjunctivitis

Mária Stefkovicovaa

Department of Epidemiology, State Health Institute, Trenc .in, Slovakia

Veronika Vicianova

Department of Newborn Children, Hospital in Trenc .in, Slovakia

Jan Sokolik

Department of Ophthamology, Hospital in Trenc .in, Slovakia

Rastislav Madar

Department of Epidemiology, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Slovakia

There are a number of risk factors in the indoor hospital environment that facilitate the transmission of nosocomial infections. The authors present two hospital outbreaks of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) at the Department of Ophthalmology (30 cases) and at the Department of Premature Newborns (22 cases) that were caused by improper selection of disinfectants for ophthalmological tools and incorrect hand-disinfection. In both outbreaks, EKC was diagnosed in inpatients (16 and six, respectively), outpatients (five and three, respectively), health-care workers (three and five, respectively), and relatives of EKC patients (six and eight, respectively). Implementation of infection control measures including isolation precautions, improved disinfection by 2% glutaraldehyde and hand-washing of both hospital and outpatient department personnel led to a significant decrease of the rate of infection.

Key Words: Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis • Hospital outbreak • Control measures

Indoor and Built Environment, Vol. 15, No. 1, 111-114 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1420326X06062520
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