Korean J Nosocomial Infect Control.  2000 Dec;5(2):99-110.

Outbreak Investigation of Epidemic Keratoconjunctivitis in a Neonatal Intensive care Unit

• Jeong IS
• Ree YH
• Oh HS
• Choi KW

Abstract

BACKGROUND
This was concerned with outbreak investigation of the epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) which occurred from April to May 1996 in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul, Korea. METHOD: We defined the cases by the clinical signs and symptoms and investigated the possible risk factors of this outbreak by case-control analysis.
RESULTS
The number of total cases were 17, including neonates (10 cases) and health care workers (7 cases), The index case was thought to be infected by his family, while the other cases may have been transmitted through contact with nurses who cared for or fed the index case. There were no statistically significant differences between case and non-case (control) neonates. However, for nurses, the total amounts of time spent working in the hospital and in the NICU were identified as significant factors. And the incidence of EKC was higher in the nurses who contacted neonates with EKC more frequently.
CONCLUSION
According to our contact precautions, we enforced cohort isolation and emphasized strict hand washing and aseptic technique to the health care workers. All of the equipment, especially eye dips used by the cases, was disinfected or sterilized. Fortunately this outbreak ended after about one week when we recognized and started to investigate this outbreak.

Keyword

Neonatal intensive care unit; Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis; Outbreak investigation

MeSH Terms

Case-Control Studies
Cohort Studies
Delivery of Health Care
Hand Disinfection
Humans
Incidence
Infant, Newborn
Intensive Care, Neonatal*
Keratoconjunctivitis*
Korea
Risk Factors
Seoul