Nosocomial intestinal infections in an infant ward. The importance of phone inquiries of the families

UNLABELLED: Intestinal nosocomial infections remain a major concern in pediatric wards where they occur synchronously with syncytial respiratory virus infections. MATERIAL AND METHODS: During the 1997-1998 winter, we systematically listed the intestinal nosocomial infections that emerged in the pediatric wards of the Clermont-Ferrand hospital. After their discharge, the families of the children who were not hospitalized for acute diarrhea were contacted by telephone. RESULTS: Among 817 hospitalized children, 27% were admitted to the hospital for acute epidemic gastroenteritis. One hundred forty-four children were listed as having nosocomial gastroenteritis, 96 (66.6%) during the hospital stay and 48 (33%) after discharge, which represents 5.8% of all the admissions. Intestinal nosocomial infections increased with the number of admissions per day and per month, and occurred in 28.1% of the cases of syncytial respiratory virus bronchiolitis that concern children of the same age. Rotavirus was found in 28% of nosocomial infections, yet it was responsible for 85.5% of the hospital readmissions for nosocomial infections. CONCLUSION: Further studies should try to find solutions to decrease the frequency of those concomitant diseases.