Tehran University Medical Journal

---

Background: Surgical wound infection surveillance is an important facet of hospital infection control processes. There are several surveillance methods for surgical site infections. The objective of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of two different surgical site infection surveillance methods.
Methods: In this prospective cross sectional study 3020 undergoing surgey in general surgical wards of Imam Khomeini hospital were included. Surveillance methods consisted of review of medical records for postoperative fever and review of nursing daily note for prescription of antibiotics postoperatively and during patient’s discharge. Review of patient’s history and daily records and interview with patient’s surgeon and the head-nurse of the ward considered as a gold standard for surveillance.
Results: The postoperative antibiotic consumption especially when considering its duration is a proper method for surgical wound infection surveillance. Accomplishments of a prospective study with postdischarge follow up until 30 days after surgery is recommended.
Conclusion: The result of this study showed that postoperative antibiotic surveillance method specially with consideration of the antibiotic usage duration is a proper method for surgical site infection surveillance in general surgery wards. Accomplishments of a prospective study with post discharge follow up until 30 days after surgery is recommended.

---

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at substantial risk of acquiring bloodborne pathogen infections through contact with blood and other potentially infectious materials. The main objectives of this study were to determine the epidemiological characteristics of occupational exposure to blood/body fluids, related risk factors of such exposure, and hepatitis B vaccination status among HCWs.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2004 to June 2005 at three university hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Using a structured interview, we questioned HCWs who had the potential for high-risk exposure during the year preceding the study.

Results: With a total number of 467 exposures (52.9%) and an annual rate of 0.5 exposures per HCW, 391 (43%) of the 900 HCWs had at least one occupational exposure to blood and other infected fluids during the previous year. The highest rate of occupational exposure was found among nurses (26%) and the housekeeping staff (20%). These exposures most commonly occurred in the medical and emergency wards (23% and 21%, respectively). The rate of exposure in HCWs with less than five years of experience was 54%. Percutaneous injury was reported in 280 participants (59%). The history of hepatitis B vaccination was positive in 85.93% of the exposed HCWs. Sixty-one percent had used gloves at the time of exposure. Hand washing was reported in 91.4% and consultation with an infectious disease specialist in 29.4%. There were 72 exposures to HIV, HBV and HCV exposure to HBV was the most common. In 237 of the enrolled cases, the source was unknown. Job type, years of experience and hospital ward were the risk factors for exposure.
Conclusion: Education, protective barriers and vaccination are important in the prevention of viral transmission among HCWs.

---

Background: Tuberculosis is still one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity in many countries and is the second only to human immunodeficiency virus as a cause of death worldwide resulting from a single infectious agent. In 1993, the World Health Organization declared tuberculosis a global public health emergency. Conven-tional methods for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infections are time consuming, as MTB culture requires 3-8 weeks for growth. To determine the sensitivity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), we have evaluated Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in peripheral blood samples with PCR technique in adults with new cases of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. Setting: Department of Infectious disease of Imam Khomeini Hospital, 2004- 2005, Tehran, Iran.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated MTB DNA extracted from 3ml citrated peripheral blood samples from 95 adults with new cases of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. DNA extraction was performed using a commercial PCR kit with IS1081 primers. For prevention of cross contamination and reduction of false positives, all steps were performed under laminar hood.

Results: The 95 patients, 59 of whom were male, had a mean age 44.44 years (SD±20.26) 69 cases had pulmonary and 26 had extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. PCR was positive in 32 (33.7%) patients and negative in 63 (66.3%) cases. The overall sensitivity and accuracy of the PCR assay was 44.1% for pulmonary, 19.2% for extra-pulmonary and 10% for disseminated tuberculosis, respectively.

Conclusion: The low sensitivity of the IS1081 primer MTB-PCR assay on PBMC may pose problems for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis. However, further studies are needed to confirm this technique as an alternative test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.