Spread of Klebsiella in a neonatal ward

The colonization of infants with Klebsiella pneumoniae was prospectively studied. Samples were taken from nose, throat, umbilicus and rectum on the day of arrival and thereafter once a week. Phage typing was performed the first time K. pneumoniae was found at any of these sites. Settle plates were exposed in the incubators and in the patient rooms 5 h/day. The study lasted for 32 weeks. The first 15 weeks was a control period with no information to the staff, the following 4 weeks was a period of intervention and education and the last 13 weeks was a second control period. In all, 603 infants were investigated. The number of infants nursed per week and severity of their disease was comparable in the 3 periods. The colonization rates were 65, 34 and 58%, respectively. The acquisition of new strains was 1.4 per infant in the first and last periods, but only 0.4 in the period of intervention. Thus, colonization rates decreased only during the period of continuous education in hygiene.