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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson for Queen Elizabeth Hospital made the following announcement today (December 31):
A 76-year-old female patient of a medical ward in Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) was confirmed to be a Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) carrier on December 26. In accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has screened patients who had contact with the index patient and two more patients (one male and one female, aged 74 and 89) were confirmed to be VRE carriers without clinical symptoms. Among these three patients, one had been transferred to Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital and one is still being hospitalised under isolation treatment; both are in stable condition. The remaining patient had been discharged.
The QEH Infection Control Team, the departments concerned and experts of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) discussed and decided to adopt the following enhanced infection control measures:
1. Strongly encouraging patients to perform hand hygiene;
2. Enhanced hand hygiene for staff;
3. Applying stringent contact precautions, including dedicated use of clinical items to VRE carriers;
4. Enhanced 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/Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:05
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