Airborne HAIs came more into focus with reports of deaths caused by mold clusters at two Pennsylvania hospitals.
Investigation showed heavy mold growth on the hospital linens being used.
Awareness of health care-association infections increased after a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak killed 12 people in the South Bronx.
Legionnaires’ disease doesn’t spread from person to person. Instead, the bacteria spreads through mist, such as from air-conditioning units for large buildings.
Tuberculosis can be a source of outbreak in hospitals. Health care workers infected with TB can spread infection widely, requiring extensive screening of patients and staff.
Norovirus, transmitted through the air, is difficult to contain in a hospital ward without sufficient single rooms with en suite toilets.
To ensure sufficient dilution of bacterial load around an infected patient room, air should be changed 10-20 times every hour. This is difficult to maintain with ventilation systems especially in negative pressure rooms. More on that below.
MRSA can survive on skin scales for up to 80 days, and spores of Clostridium difficile may last even longer. MRSA can travel in the air on these smaller skin scales for the length of a ward. Minimal colonization of these bacteria on open wounds and mucous membranes can cause significant infections