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Volume 24, Number 9—September 2018
Perspective

Ethics of Infection Control Measures for Carriers of Antimicrobial Drug–Resistant Organisms

Babette RumpComments to Author , Aura TimenComments to Author , Marlies Hulscher, and Marcel Verweij
Author affiliations: The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands (B. Rump, A. Timen); Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (M. Hulscher); Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands (M. Verweij)

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Table 2

Indications for routine screening for multidrug-resistant organisms, the Netherlands*

Healthcare setting Indication†
Hospital
 Patients at high risk of carrying an MDRO (e.g., patients transferred from a hospital in a foreign country or patients working in animal husbandry)
Patients at high risk of acquiring infection with an MDRO
Patients with signs of clinical infection with an MDRO
Patients for whom empiric treatment failed
Patients with recurrent infection
Family members of hospital patient known to carry an MDRO
Personnel with unprotected exposure to a person known to carry MRSA
General practice
 Patients for whom empiric treatment failed
Patients with recurrent infection
Nursing home/care facility
 Patients for whom empiric treatment failed
Patients with recurrent infection
Patient with unprotected exposure (e.g., shared a room, shared medical equipment) to a person with MRSA or carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae
Personnel with unprotected exposure to a person known to carry MRSA
Home Personnel with unprotected exposure to a person known to carry MRSA

*MDRO, multidrug-resistant organism; MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
†As advised by the Werkgroep Infectie Preventie guideline on measures against transmission of highly resistant microorganisms in hospitals (2,19,20).

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Page updated: August 28, 2018
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