2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of an Educational Program Regarding the Prevention of Clostridium difficile Infection for Pediatric Cancer Patients

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21792283
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Lifelong developmental nursing
Research Institution	Mie University (2011) Aichi Medical University (2009-2010)
Principal Investigator	MURABATA Mayumi 三重大学, 医学部, 准教授 (30363956)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Keywords	感染予防看護 / 長期入院 / 小児がん / Clostridium difficile / 予防ケア / 教育プログラム
Research Abstract	We investigated intestinal colonization by C. difficile in children undergoing antineoplastic chemotherapy. The environmental surfaces of the pediatric ward where they were hospitalized were sampled and examined for the presence of C. difficile. C. difficile was recovered from 13 of the 15 children examined, and 2 of them were given the diagnosis of C. difficile infection and treated by vancomycin. C. difficile isolates were analyzed by PCR ribotyping. Ten patients had four PCR ribotype, which indicates nosocomial spreading in the ward. A total of 502 environmental surfaces were examined and 39 were positive for C. difficile. The 39 C. difficile isolates were classified into 18 different PCR ribotypes. The same PCR ribotype was recovered from stool specimens of 2 patients as well as from environmental surfaces of their room. These findings indicate that environmental contamination may contribute to C. difficile transmission among pediatric cancer patients.