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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson for Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) made the following announcement today (September 16):
A 72-year-old female patient at a medical ward in Queen Elizabeth Hospital was confirmed to be a Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) carrier on September 12. In accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has screened patients who had contact with the index patient and confirmed 20 more patients (five male and 15 female, aged 70 to 104) to be VRE carriers without clinical symptoms. One of them has been discharged, while another one has passed away due to underlying illness.
The QEH Infection Control Team, the departments concerned and experts of the Centre for Health Protection have discussed and decided to adopt the following enhanced infection control measures:
1. Strongly encourage patients to perform hand hygiene;
2. Enhanced hand hygiene of staff;
3. Applied stringent contact precautions, including dedicated use of clinical items to VRE carriers;
4. Enhanced environmental and equipment decontamination; and
5. Active surveillance culture for in-patients.
The QEH Infection Control Team will continue to closely monitor the situation of the ward. The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow up.
Ends/Monday, September 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:28
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