To survey the attitudes of internal medicine residents regarding the influenza vaccine and their reasons for accepting or refusing the vaccine during a hospitalwide immunization campaign.

Internal medicine residents responded to a written survey.

A university-owned, 891-bed, tertiary referral hospital and a 278-bed Veterans Administration hospital in Iowa.

Immediately following the immunization campaign, 51% of residents had received the vaccine. Of those residents who were not vaccinated, 42% never had time to go to the vaccine clinic, but only 8% worried about side effects of the vaccine. Residents whose clinics were staffed by infectious disease subspecialists were significantly more likely to be vaccinated (odds ratio = 2.55; CI95 = 1.01 to 6.42) than residents working with general internists or other subspecialists.

Knowledge, vaccine availability, and social pressure all increase the likelihood that residents will be vaccinated. Faculty, particularly those interested in infectious diseases, may influence residents to accept the vaccine.

The objective of this quality standard is to prevent nosocomial transmission of measles by assuring universal measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination of all healthcare workers who lack immunity to measles. Although the primary emphasis is on healthcare workers in hospitals, those at other sites, such as clinics, nursing homes, and schools, are also included. It will be the responsibility of designated individuals at these institutions to implement the standard.

We considered advocating the use of measles vaccine rather than MMR but chose the latter because it also protects against mumps and rubella and because it is more readily available.

The desired outcome is a reduction in the nosocomial transmission of measles.

Although direct comparative studies are lacking, nosocomial outbreaks of measles have been reported (as recently as 1992) in institutions where measles immunization of nonimmune healthcare workers is not universal, whereas such outbreaks have not been reported in institutions with universal immunization.

We consulted more than 50 infectious-disease experts in epidemiology, government, medicine, nursing, obstetrics and gynecology pediatrics, and surgery. In light of disagreement regarding the implementation of the standard, we used group discussions to reach a consensus.

The consequences of the transmission of measles (and of mumps and rubella) in a healthcare institution include not only the morbidity and mortality attributable to the disease, but also the significant cost of evaluating and containing an outbreak and the serious disruption of regular hospital routines when control measures are instituted. The potential harm to healthcare workers after the implementation of the standard consists of untoward effects of MMR vaccine, although the reactions of vaccines should be minimal with adherence to recommended vaccination procedures. Implementation of the standard should entail no expense to healthcare workers; the precise cost to institutions is unknown, but the expense would be mitigated by prevention of measles outbreaks.

We recommend MMR vaccination of all healthcare workers who lack immunity to measles.

The Quality Standards Subcommittee of the Clinical Affairs Committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) developed the standard. The subcommittee was composed of representatives of the IDSA (Drs. Gross and McGowan), the Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America (Dr. Wenzel), the Surgical Infection Society (Dr. Dellinger), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (Dr. Krause), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Dr. Martone), the Obstetrics and Gynecology Infectious Diseases Society (Dr. Sweet), and the Association of Practitioners of Infection Control (Ms. Barrett). Funding was provided by the IDSA and the other cooperating organizations. The standard is endorsed by the IDSA.

To ascertain the etiology and outcome of episodes of bacteremia and fungemia over a three-year period (1990-1992) in patients with hematological malignancies.

Retrospective study.

Hematology service of a 1,500-bed Spanish university hospital.

Of a total of 178 episodes of significant bacteremia or fungemia in 101 patients, 53% affected patients with acute leukemia. Grampositive microorganisms were found to be the cause in 70% of the monomicrobial episodes. The most frequently isolated microorganism was coag-ulase-negative Staphylococcus (35%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (11%). Most bloodstream infections occurred during an episode of neutropenia (59%). A total of 34 patients died during hospitalization; in 14, infection was the cause of death.

A marked increase in the incidence of bacteremias caused by grampositive microorganisms has been observed in our hospital over the last 10 years, especially in patients with hematological malignancies. The mortality due to bacteremia is similar to that found by other authors in series of bacteremia in hematological patients, and we have not found significant differences in the mortality due to bacteremia between neutropenic and non-neutropenic patients.

Two cases of nosocomial legionellosis due to Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 (Lp6) were identified in the intensive care unit. Both patients had a history of aspiration of nasogastric tube feedings, developed pulmonary infiltrates, had positive cultures for Lp6, had serological titer rises to Legionella, were treated, and recovered.

Isolates of Lp6 from the potable water system and patients were characterized by DNA restriction enzyme analyses using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Water samples grew >1O4 CFU/L of Lp6, and the same PFGE pattern was observed with the patient and water isolates. Potable water was used only for delivering medications and diluting feeding solutions given through the nasogastric tubes of the patients. Heat shock of the hot water system (140° to 160°F or 60° to 7O°C, 4 hours) was performed and the temperature was maintained between 131° to 140°F (55° to 60°C). Surveillance over 18 months revealed a reduction in Legionella to <102 CFU/L.

We speculate that nosocomial Legionella pneumonia occurred due to aspiration of nasogastric tube solutions diluted with tap water. A nursing practice change to use only sterile water to dilute feedings and flush medications for nasogastric administration was instituted. The hot water temperature at the faucet was increased to ≥131°F (≥60°C) to control Legionella. No further nosocomial cases have occurred.