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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson of New Territories West Cluster made the following announcement today (March 27) regarding two clusters of Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) carriers:
Tuen Mun Hospital had earlier announced the confirmation of a cluster of VRE carriers in a Medical and Geriatric Ward. In accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has performed contact tracing and one more 89-year-old female patient was confirmed as a VRE carrier today without clinical symptoms. The patient had been discharged earlier.
In addition, a 93-year-old female patient in a Medicine and Geriatric Ward of Pok Oi Hospital was confirmed as a VRE carrier on March 19, without clinical symptoms. The patient was isolated for further treatment and later passed away due to her own underlying illness.
In accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has screened patients who had contact with the index patient and two more female patients (aged 68 and 85) were confirmed to be VRE carriers but without clinical symptoms. The two patients are still hospitalised under isolation and are in stable condition.
The two Medical and Geriatric Wards concerned have adopted the following enhanced infection control measures:
1. Enhanced hand hygiene and stringent contact precautions have been applied;
2. Enhanced attention to contamination-prone procedures; and
3. Enhanced disinfection and cleaning of the ward concerned.
The Cluster Infection Control Team will continue to closely monitor the situation of the wards. The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.
Ends/Thursday, March 27, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:48
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