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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 (November 30):
A 76-year-old female patient of a medical ward in QEH was confirmed to be a Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) carrier on November 27. In accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has screened patients who had contact with the index patient and five more female patients (aged 42 to 96) were confirmed to be VRE carriers without clinical symptoms. Two of them have been discharged, the remaining patients are still being hospitalised under isolation treatment.
The QEH Infection Control Team, the departments concerned and experts of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) had discussed and decided to adopt the following enhanced infection control measures:
1. Strongly encouraging patients to perform hand hygiene;
2. Enhancing hand hygiene of staff;
3. Applying stringent contact precautions, including dedicated use of clinical items to VRE carriers;
4. Enhancing environmental and equipment decontamination; and
5. Applying an 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 CHP for necessary follow-up.
Ends/Saturday, November 30, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:33
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