Hygiene
Analysis identifies significant gaps in
infection prevention practices in long-term
care facilities
Cat café in Tokyo closed down due to
‘unhygienic’ conditions
While nearly 400,000 residents
of long-term care facilities die as
a result of healthcare-associated
infections (HAIs), these facilities
continue to lack the resources,
including qualified personnel,
necessary to implement adequate
infection control programs, according to research
presented at the 44th Annual Conference of the
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and
Epidemiology (APIC).
More than 1.4 million Americans reside in one of the
nation’s approximately 15,654 nursing homes, according
to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS). Reducing HAIs is an important goal for CMS,
who issued rules requiring all long-term care facilities
(LTCFs) to strengthen their infection prevention and
control programs. The rules require facilities to have an
infection prevention and control officer, and an antibiotic
stewardship program that includes antibiotic use protocols
and a system to monitor antibiotic use.
Public health professionals from the Tennessee
Department of Health and in Washington State assessed a
sample of LTCFs to determine their infection prevention
proficiency using a tool developed by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of the 43
assessments performed in the two states, researchers found
many infection control officers in LTCFs had little-to-no
formal training and lacked foundational skills for proper
infection prevention. Researchers also discovered high
turnover rates with facilities struggling to retain consistent,
qualified personnel to manage infection control programs.
“The findings presented here are concerning and should
prompt immediate efforts to increase education and
support for infection prevention programs in all types
LTCFs,” said Linda Greene, RN, MPS, CIC, FAPIC,
2017 APIC president. “Nursing home residents often
have multiple, chronic diseases, transfer frequently
between the hospital and the long-term care setting, and
are overexposed to antibiotics, all of which place them
at higher risk for developing infections with antibiotic-
resistant organisms.”
“The lack of resources and training for infection
prevention in LTCFs is concerning, especially given the
fact that LTCFs admit sicker patients in higher numbers
than in the past,” said Colleen Roberts, MPH, a researcher
on the Tennessee study and an HAI epidemiologist with
the Tennessee Department of Health. “These assessments
confirmed our suspicions that many LTCFs suffer from
understaffing and lack of appropriate infection control
training, which can impact patient care.”
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • July - August 2017
Cats meant for customers to pet at the Neko no Te café
where found to be suffering from colds, inspectors said
Feeding time at the Neko no Te cat cafe, which has been
ordered to close Neko no Te / Youtube
A cat café in Japan has been ordered to close for the first
time in the country’s history after inspectors said they
found diseased animals living in unhygienic and cramped
conditions – with more than two cats per square metre.
Cat cafés, where customers can drink coffee and eat
snacks amid feline company, have been popular in Japan
for around a decade. They have since become a global
phenomenon, with versions springing up in the UK,
the US, Russia, France, Germany and a host of other
countries.
However the Neko no Te (cat’s paw) café in Tokyo is
alleged to have violated laws requiring cats to be kept in
cages when not with customers, which appears to have led
to uncontrolled breeding and the spread of disease.
Customers reported the cafe to authorities late last year,
with bad smells and concerns of neglect among their
complaints.
Sixty-two cats were found in the 30-square-metre cafe
when an inspection took place in December, despite the
owners originally applying to keep just 10.
A second inspection in February found that conditions
had not sufficiently improved in the café since December,
when more than half the cats displayed symptoms of the
common cold.
The café has now been ordered to close for 30 days in
a move that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has
described as the first of its kind in Japan.
There are around 150 cat cafés in Japan, which is also
home to cafes dedicated to animals including owls, rabbits
and hedgehogs.