The world pandemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is now in its eighth year and may represent the most serious infectious disease threat to world health in modern history. We now have the capability to diagnose HIV infection very accurately by simple serologic means. However, there has been great reluctance in this country to use serologic testing on a wide scale as a weapon in the war against AIDS. It is hard to believe that when serologic testing first became available, there was controversy as to whether blood donors should be routinely screened.

In a 33-month prospective analysis of needlestick injuries, venepuncturists working under Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for handling used needles were shown to incur a needlestick injury for every 3,175 to 4,006 needle-handling procedures. On the other hand, users of a simple device designed to reduce the risk of injury when recapping used needles were shown to incur a needlestick only once in every 16,100 venepunctures performed (P<0.00l). This represents a fourfold reduction in the rate of needlestick injuries. We thus question the effectiveness of the CDC nonrecapping policy.

Shigellosis is uncommon in the newborn nursery. We describe a case of Shigella sonnei gastroenteritis occurring in a newborn. Three of 32 health care providers caring for the infant acquired shigellosis. The neonate probably acquired the infection from its mother via vertical transmission. All six members of the infant's family had gastroenteritis and two siblings had stool cultures positive for Shigella. Transmission of Shigella in the newborn nursery is potentially great. Emphasis on handwashing and glove use, aggressive case finding, notification of contacts, and a liberal “forced paid sick time” policy may halt the spread.

It has been little more than four years since the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was definitively associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Although a few holdouts still insist that the true cause of AIDS has not yet been found, an over whelming body of evidence indicates that a retrovirus is responsible. The human retroviruses can be classified into transforming retroviruses (HTLV-I and HTLV-II) and cytopathic retroviruses (HIV-I and HIV-Y). As their name suggests, the cytopathic viruses rapidly lyse cells, but it is now clear that they do not lyse all of the cell types that they infect. Many T4 helper cells, which have an abundance of CD4 receptors on their surface, are destroyed following infection. However, HIV does not kill other cell types, such as macrophages, so readily, but rather persists either productively or latently within them. In this fashion, the virus persists in the host generally for the life of the individual.

During the period from early December 1987 to late January 1988, an outbreak of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKG) caused by adenovirus type 8 occurred at a university medical center eye clinic. A telephone survey of patients revealed an attack rate of 17% among patients seen during the epidemic period. A case-control study demonstrated that development of EKC was associated with exposure to pneumotonometry and to three caregivers. After controlling for exposure to pneumo-tonometry, however, only exposure to one caregiver was significantly associated with risk of the disease. On January 19, 1988, after recognition of the outbreak, the eye clinic instituted additional infection control measures. A survey of patients seen the following week showed a substantial decrease in the attack rate (1.9%). Before these control measures were implemented, clinic personnel had followed the manufacturer's recommendations and disinfected pneumotonometer tips with 70% isopropyl alcohol, fearing that other disinfectants would corrode the instrument metal. Isopropyl alcohol, shown to have limited activity against adenovirus in vitro, also was being used to “disinfect” pneumotonometer tips between uses at six other area eye clinics polled by telephone. The results of this study demonstrate the need for changes in the design and manufacture of equipment used in the eye clinic.

To study the association of malnutrition with nosocomial infection in a general medical and surgical inpatient population, we retrospectively compared 45 patients with nosocomial infection to 45 uninfected control patients, matched using several nonnutritional variables known to predispose to nosocomial infection. Univariate and multivariate analyses were done. Poor nutritional score (derived from serum albumin, total lymphocyte count, and unintentional body weight loss), unintentional body weight loss, low serum albumin level at both time of admission and the first nosocomial infection, and worsening in the nutritional score and serum albumin from admission to the first nosocomial infection were associated with the development of nosocomial infection. Nutritional factors were more abnormal in subgroups of patients with nosocomial pneumonia, urinary tract infection, wound infection, and bacteremia than in controls. The findings suggest that further study of correlations between nutritional factors and nosocomial infections is needed.

After identifying a temporal cluster of urinary tract infections in patients who had undergone urodynamic procedures, we examined the techniques within the urodynamic laboratory and retrospectively reviewed charts of all 155 patients tested in the previous six months. The rate of acquired urinary tract infections was 18.7%. Risk factors for infection included undergoing cystometrograms and being subject to the first procedure performed in a day. Technical errors in the performance of the urodynamic studies included failure to completely disassemble the apparatus upon completion of a procedure, failure to use sterile components, and lapses in aseptic technique. Bacteria implicated in the outbreak were isolated from tubing, transducers, and flush solutions. After the institution of appropriate technique, all patients tested in the subsequent six months were followed. The rate of acquired urinary tract infection dropped to 5%. Urodynamic apparatus should be completely disassembled following the completion of a procedure; reassembly using sterile components should occur immediately prior to the next procedure; aseptic technique should be maintained; and patients should undergo routine urine screening before a procedure. Surveillance of urodynamic procedures may reveal correctable flaws in technique.

We reviewed 402 hospital admissions of patients with acute leukemia to define the frequency and characteristics of anaerobic bacteremia in this patient population. Six (5.2%) of the 116 septicemia episodes documented in these patients were caused by anaerobes (Bacteroides species, 3; Fusobacterium species, 2; and Clostridium tertium, 1); two of these episodes were polymicrobial. Five patients had had prior bacteremia. All six patients were receiving broad-spectrum antibiotics, including an anti-pseu-domonal penicillin, at the time of the episode. In each instance, the absolute granulocyte count was 0/mm3. Five patients had clinically apparent sources of infection, including perirectal abscess, gastrointestinal bleeding, or Clostridium difficile- associated diarrhea. Anaerobic bacteremia is an infrequent occurrence in granulocytopenic patients with acute leukemia, but may occur when there is obvious disruption of normal gastrointestinal anatomic barriers.

Fifteen episodes of infection due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, including peritonitis and catheter site infections, occurred in nine patients receiving continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis over a 27-month period. Eight episodes were associated with catheter loss. Occurrence of P aeruginosa infection was significantly associated with use of povidone-iodine solution to cleanse the catheter site. There was no association with use of povidone-iodine solution to disinfect tubing connections, use of other skin care products or exposure to other environmental sources of P aeruginosa. Cultures of available povidone-iodine products were negative. Local irritation and alteration in skin flora caused by antiseptic solution or low-level contamination of povidone-iodine solution are potential mechanisms of infection.