| Theme | Environmental Arrangements of Hemodialysis Room -- including In-hospital Infection | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Prevention of infection in hemodialysis | |
| Publish Date | 2004/07 | |
| Author | Kan Kikuchi | Department of 4th Internal Medicine, Kidney Center, Tokyo Women's Medical University |
| Author | Takashi Akiba | Department of Blood Purification, Kidney Center, Tokyo Women's Medical University |
| [ Summary ] | The Japanese Association of Dialysis Physicians and the Japanese Society of Dialysis Therapy released an urgent bulletin to all dialysis facilities, (over 3500) in Japan, saying that dialysis patients were at high risk from the hepatitis C virus, and recommend complete management of drug use etc. in April of this year. In the investigation carried out by the research team sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the prevalence HCV infection per year in dialysis patients was at a surprisingly high rate of 2.2%. This was mainly due to staffs not performing safe procedures in a limited number of facilities. The answers on the questionnaire for prevention of the hepatitis C infection and dialysis accidents, sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, indicated that the manual for prevention of hospital infections was in use and committees for hospital infection prevention were active. However, in hemodialysis facilities there was poor recognition and knowledge of the prevention of infectious diseases. The rates of hospital infection with HCV must be delt with. We also established guidelines the treatment of HCV infected dialysis patients who might lose their chances for kidney transplantation due to chronic liver infection. The prevention of hospital infection could contribute to the establishment of good facility quality and outcomes. |
|