Device-Associated Infections: A Macroproblem that Starts with Microadherence

Medical devices are responsible for a large portion of nosocomial infections, particularly in critically ill patients. Device-associated infections can cause major medical and economic sequelae. Bacterial colonization of the indwelling device can be a prelude to both infection and malfunction of the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical infectious diseases 2001-11, Vol.33 (9), p.1567-1572
Main Authors: Weinstein, Robert A., Darouiche, Rabih O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria
Bacterial Adhesion
Bacterial colonization
Bacterial Infections - etiology
Bacterial Infections - prevention & control
Biofilms
Biological and medical sciences
Catheters
Epidemiology
Equipment and Supplies - microbiology
Equipment and Supplies - standards
Fimbriae
General aspects
Health care industry
Healthcare Epidemiology
Humans
Infection pathogenesis
Infections
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Pathogenesis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Medical devices are responsible for a large portion of nosocomial infections, particularly in critically ill patients. Device-associated infections can cause major medical and economic sequelae. Bacterial colonization of the indwelling device can be a prelude to both infection and malfunction of the device. The pathogenesis of device-associated infection centers around the multifaceted interaction among the bacteria, the device, and the host. Bacterial factors are probably the most important in pathogenesis of infection, whereas device factors are the most amenable to modification with the objective of preventing infection. Some, but not all, of the studied bacterial receptors satisfy the proposed "adherence/infection" version of Koch's postulates. Traditional surface-modifying preventive approaches have largely focused on antimicrobial coating of devices and resulted in variable clinical success in preventing device-associated infections. The potential protective role of newer innovative approaches, such as biofilm modification and bacterial interference, ought to be further investigated.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1086/323130