As hospital admissions increase due to severe cases of influenza infection, so does the demand for isolation facilities. With the ever present threat of healthcare-associated infections, Michelle Holland explores the importance of the rapid diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection as an aid to patient prioritisation and appropriate resource allocation.
Despite best infection control efforts, hospitals remain the ideal environment for bacteria and viruses to thrive. Enclosed spaces where a high proportion of the population is ‘at risk’ and in close proximity mean that infectious diseases spread easily from hand to hand and hand to surface.
Since the start of the influenza pandemic, the Department of Health’s ‘Catch It. Bin It. Kill It’ campaign has shifted advice from “clean your hands as soon as possible” in 2009 to “wash your hands with soap and water” in 2011. Patients and visitors are increasingly well educated in the use of alcohol-based hand gels provided on wards; however, while this has helped to combat the spread of infections such as influenza and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), alcohol gels should not take the place of hand washing as only the physical action of rubbing the hands together removes Clostridium difficile spores from the hands.
It is essential to prevent an upward creep in C. difficile infection (CDI) rates while attention is turned towards influenza. Patients infected with either pandemic influenza (H1N1) or CDI should be isolated, and, with facilities already stretched, the pressure is on to find the optimal test, treat and isolate strategy.
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