Assume you work at the local hospital in your home town. Suddenly you notice that 10% of your patients are having serious staphylococcal infections. None of these patients were admitted for having a...

Assume you work at the local hospital in your home town.  Suddenly you notice that 10% of your patients are having serious staphylococcal infections.  None of these patients were admitted for having a staphylococcal infection, and we assume that all standard infectious control procedures are being followed (hand washing, use of gloves and masks, etc.).  Remember that a small percentage of bacteria do evade even the most scrupulous of infectious disease control procedures.  How could you use what you have learned in this week’s laboratory to solve the problem?

1. How could you find out where the infection originated?  What steps would you need to take?


2. How could you determine definitively what organism is causing these patients’ infections?


3. How could you determine how to treat these patients?


4. Once you determine the source of the infection, what ethical issues, if any, are involved here?  What should you do to protect the privacy and welfare of the patients as well as avoiding conduct that would lead to a misconduct charge or lawsuit against the hospital?


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