The effect on sepsis rates of closing and cleaning hospital wards

Sepsis rates were studied in five hospital wards before and after closure for cleaning. Each ward was closed because of an outbreak of Staph. aureus infection caused by a cloxacillin-resistant strain. The study shows that sepsis rates, especially sepsis caused by hospital strains of Staph. aureus, were greatly reduced in the three-month period following re-opening of the ward, provided that patients infected with such organisms were not readmitted to or allowed to remain in the ward.