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INFECTION CONTROL
also saw a great decline in the importance of this type
of infection. Much of the decline in the incidence rate
of streptococcus is to be attributed to the introduction
of the sulphonamides and penicillin, and by improved
hospital hygiene practices and to a lesser extent by
the spontaneous decrease in virulence of streptococcus.
The close of the 19th century saw the triumphs in the
conquest of improving hospital hygiene trough reform
and aseptic practices and seemed to herald the final
victory over hospital cross-infection. The short-lived
victory uncloaked the fact that, infections occurred
not only in obstetric and surgical patients, but in
medical patients as well, and that air could also be a
potential source of infection.
Nosocomial infections due to Staphylococcus aureus,
gained importance in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Bacteriophage typing of this bacterium clearly
revealed that evolutionary changes had occurred
over the years with increasing virulence. This culminated
in the surfacing of the scandalous ‘phage 80/81
staphylococcus’ in the 1960s, which resulted in
epidemics of infection in many parts of the world. (20)
The importance of Gram-negative bacilli as a cause
of hospital infection increased insidiously during the
1950s and had overtaken that of S. aureus by 1960.
However, this event was not widely appreciated until
comprehensive surveys had been conducted in the
1960s. (21)
Streptococcal, staphylococcal and then Gram-negative
bacilli as a cause of hospital infection became a
focus of attention, as did antibiotic-resistant organisms.
It is noteworthy at juncture that an alarming increase
in the complexity of hospital infections over the last 60
years led to a development of structured system of
control. A landmark incident in the history of infection
control was the recommendation by the British
medical research council (MRC), in 1941, for the
prevention of surgical sepsis(22). Then in 1944 the
July-August-September 2019
MRC advised for the establishment of an infection
control committee in every hospital to be comprised
of
representative
doctors,
nurses
and
administrators(23)
First International Conference of the Hospital Infection
Society, 1987
The First International Conference of the Hospital
Infection Society was inaugurated in London (24).Ian
Philips in his opening address emphasized on the fact
that the strongest characteristic of nosocomial
infection was its evolving nature : ‘Not only does the
procession of pathogens continue to recruit and
regroup, but also fresh opportunities for invasion arise
regularly as medicine tackles ever more complex
problems, coincidentally lowering the patient’s
barriers to infection’.
Second International Conference of the Hospital Infection Society, 1990
The second coference held in london, emphasized on
the formulation of new strategies for antimicrobial use,
disinfection and sterilization of instruments contaminated with viruses, and the impact of molecular biology on hospital infections (25).
Third International Conference on Hospital Infection,
1994
The Third International Conference of the Hospital
Infection Society was held in September of 1994.
More recently, antibiotic-resistant pathogens not seen
previously have emerged, particularly in the
immunocompromised host(26).
Fourth International Conference of the Hospital Infection Society, 1998
The Fourth International Conference of the Hospital
Infection Society was held in Edinburgh in 1998(27).
Antibiotic resistance in Gram-positive organisms was
a main theme of the meeting, with vancomycin resistance and MRSA. The inability of both physical and
chemical methods in inactivating prions were
highlighted by M Taylor(28)
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