A new study published in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology has discovered a surprising link between Clostridium difficile infections and hospital room size.
Researchers have long known that factors such as advanced age and prolonged hospital stay are associated with a greater risk of contracting C. diff., but the size of the patient room has never before been analyzed.
Study authors examined 75 case patients and 150 control patients and the connection between their room size on their risk on contracting C. diff. and found a surprising correlation; the greater the square footage of a hospital room, the greater the risk of C. diff.
"This finding highlights the importance of the hospital environment in the transmission of [C. diff.] as well as the need for interventions to improve environmental disinfection processes in the hospital setting," wrote study authors.
The study also found patients assigned to single rooms were at a greater risk for infection.
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