Staphylococcal infections in the hemodialysis unit: prevention using infection control principles.

Infections are a leading cause of death in patients on chronic hemodialysis, second only to cardiovascular disease.'-Staphylococcus aureus is the major pathogen and the leading cause of access-site infection, bacteremia, and endocarditis in hemodialysis patients and is responsible for more deaths than any other organism.3-5 In this issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (pp 534-541), Kaplowitz et al report that S aureus caused four of five bacteremias and seven of nine access-site infections over