Respected Editor,
We recently went through your article titled “Dodging the bundle—Persistent healthcare-associated rhinovirus infection throughout the pandemic.”
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The authors have brought about relevant information regarding hospital-acquired infections (HAI) with a focus on healthcare-associated Viral Infections. It's a relatively newer concept in a resource-limited setting. While we are grappling with HAIs, our main focus is on Multidrug Resistant bacteria.2
With much attention, energy, and focus given to the “ESKAPE” group of organisms, viruses take a backseat.Monegro AF, Muppidi V, Regunath H. Hospital Acquired Infections. [Updated 2022 May 2]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Accessed September 30, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441857/
3
This article has been an eye-opener to us in context of the looking outside the box. It is necessary for us to keep the viruses also in view in infection control practices especially in dealing with children in NICU and PICU.More so, after the world has gone through so much due to a viral pandemic. In the era of emerging and reemerging infections, bioterrorism, and the immunocompromised state of a fraction of the population, these viral infections can create havoc if not dealt with properly.
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The state of PPEs and precautions change so much that, it is required to keep viruses in mind while formulating any HAI guidelines. Also, adequate care has to be taken regarding the infrastructure cost while doing any future projects.Before the covid -19 pandemic, we took the common cold symptoms lightly but after the pandemic declaration, we took all types of common cold symptoms as a possibility of covid-19 infection. During the Covid-19 pandemic, self-isolation and contact avoidance practices were followed if healthcare workers had any symptoms.
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As of now, the covid-19 pandemic is under control but other multiple unknown viruses are can be spread through healthcare workers. We still have to continue the PPE using practice and self-isolation from the ICU setups till symptoms subsidies. This type of viral infection is easy to transmit from one patient to another. To prevent transmission, we need to control the source. Any person with rhinovirus symptoms however healthcare workers or patient relatives, either not permitted to come surrounding the patient or meet after proper precautions like PPE, Mask, and Hand-hygiene.India being a country endemic to a lot of viruses, needs a lot of attention. Especially to respiratory, and feco-oral routes in infective viruses like Rotavirus, Influenzae virus, paramyxoviruses, Adenovirus, Measles, varicella, Respiratory Syncytial viruses, Covid-19, etc.
References
- Dodging the bundle-Persistent healthcare-associated rhinovirus infection throughout the pandemic.Am J Infect Control. 2022; 50: 1140-1144
Monegro AF, Muppidi V, Regunath H. Hospital Acquired Infections. [Updated 2022 May 2]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Accessed September 30, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441857/
- Antibiotic resistance in hospital-acquired ESKAPE-E infections in low- and lower-middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Emerg Microbes Infect. 2022; 11: 443-451
- Pandemics throughout history.Front Microbiol. 2021; 11631736
- Exploring the relationship between self-isolation and distress among people with gastrointestinal disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic.J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2022; 29: 654-665
Article info
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
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© 2022 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
