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. 2020 Apr 30;9(2):240-243.
doi: 10.1093/jpids/piz023.

Association Between Children's Hospital Visitor Restrictions and Healthcare-Associated Viral Respiratory Infections: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Hawa Forkpa  1 , Angela H Rupp  2 , Stanford T Shulman  1   2 , Sameer J Patel  1 , Elizabeth L Gray  3 , Xiaotian Zheng  4 , Maria Bovee  2 , Larry K Kociolek  1   2
Affiliations

Association Between Children's Hospital Visitor Restrictions and Healthcare-Associated Viral Respiratory Infections: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Hawa Forkpa et al. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. .

Abstract

We investigated the effect of annual winter visitor restrictions on hospital respiratory virus transmission. The healthcare-associated (HA) viral respiratory infection (VRI) transmission index (number of HA VRIs per 100 inpatient community-associated VRIs) was 59% lower during the months in which visitor restrictions were implemented. These data prompt consideration for instituting year-round visitor restrictions.

Keywords: enterovirus; healthcare-associated infection; respiratory virus; rhinovirus; visitors.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Aggregate monthly viral respiratory infection transmission indices during visitor restriction policy and practice (VRPP) (shaded) and non-VRPP (nonshaded) periods. The horizontal line and corresponding numeric label in each period represent the overall transmission index for that particular period. We found 5.2 fewer healthcare-associated (HA) viral respiratory infections per 100 inpatient community-associated (CA) viral respiratory infections during the VRPP periods, which represents a 59% decrease compared to that in the non-VRPP periods.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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