2007

2006

2005

Committee
Introduction
Aims
Meetings

Committee
Chairperson	Dr. Jean Carlet Réanimation Médico-Chirurgicale Groupe Hospitalier Paris Saint Joseph 185, rue R. Losserand 75014 Paris France Tel: + 33-1-44 12 34 15 FAX: + 33-1-44 12 32 80 E-mail: jcarlet@hpsj.fr

Introduction
Infections in the ICU represent the nosocomial infections of the near future, as it is predicted that hospitals of the future will be transformed into massive ICUs and other units providing increased levels of care.
Generally, patients who are transferred from the ICU to hospital wards are colonised with antimicrobial resistant bacteria, providing a focus for spread and colonization of the whole hospital. Thus, today’s ICUs are of major concern regarding both prevention and therapy of the nosocomial infections arising in their environment.
Ventilation associated pneumonia (VAP) and central catheter associated infections represent the majority of ICU infections, with mortality rates exceeding 30%. The principle causes are multi-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella species producing ESBLs, MRSA and VRE strains.

Aims of working Group
Based on the above, it is evident that an ISC working group on ICU infections is urgently required. This working group aims to:
i) Enhance the epidemiological surveillance of nosocomial ICU infections
ii) Promote antibiotic resistant surveillance in ICUs
iii) Evaluate therapeutic decisions in the ICU. These include antibiotic rotation, restriction and de-escalation policies, in order to prevent and/or reduce resistance rates by applying well organized protocols
iv) Evaluate the validity of surveillance cultures as a guide to empirical antimicrobial therapy
v) Promote the implementation of “hand-hygiene protocols”.

Meetings
The ISC Working Group on infections in the ICU (co-)organized the following meetings and symposia:

For further information on ISC meetings go to:

ISC Future Meetings
ISC Past Meetings

Last edition: août 7, 2007