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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson for Kowloon Central Cluster (KCC) made the following announcement today (June 4) regarding two clusters of Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) cases:
An 84-year-old male patient of an orthopaedics and traumatology ward in Queen Elizabeth Hospital was confirmed to be a VRE infected case on May 30. The hospital has screened patients who had contact with the index patient. A total of six more male patients (aged 31 to 87) who had stayed in the same ward were confirmed to be VRE carriers without clinical symptoms.
In addition, a 62-year-old male patient admitted to a rehabilitation ward of Kowloon Hospital earlier was confirmed to be a VRE carrier on May 31. In accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has screened patients who had contact with the index patient. A total of 10 more male patients (aged 54 to 91) who had stayed in the same ward were confirmed to be VRE carriers without clinical symptoms.
All the patients concerned are under medical surveillance and isolation with stable condition. The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.
The KCC Infection Control Team, the departments concerned and experts of the Centre for Health Protection have met and decided to adopt the following enhanced infection control measures in the two wards concerned:
1. Enhanced admission screening for high-risk patients, such as renal patients and Intensive Care Unit cases;
2. Single rooms or cohorting in the same cubicle is arranged for high-risk cases;
3. Enforcing hand hygiene and recruiting volunteers to take part in hand hygiene audits;
4. Focusing more closely on contamination-prone procedures;
5. Environmental hygiene has been stepped up; and
6. Close monitoring and stringent infection control precautions have been applied.
The KCC Infection Control Team will continue to closely monitor the situation of the wards.
Ends/Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:08
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