Chickenpox outbreak in the Men's Oncology Service of the San Juan de Dios Hospital, February - April 2004, San José, Costa Rica
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51481/amc.v50i1.351Keywords:
Chicken pox, transmission, odds ratio, outbreakAbstract
Aim: Varicella's infection is not common in adults' hospital, in spite of being a highly contagious illness. Since in adults, death rates are higher, it is important to analyze the characteristics of the present outbreak. We tried to determine risk factors that contributed to its existence in order to recommend measures to prevent future varicella outbreaks. controls according to age, contact among patients hospital stay and bed group. Odds Ratio determined the possible association between the variables and the presentation of the illness. Service quarantine was recommended.
Results: The first case of chickenpox happened in February, at the third day of hospitalization. Later on 5 more cases were identified. When the variables were analyzed the epidemic curve and the period of incubation, contact among the patients was the most important to maintain outbreak existence (p < 0,05; OR = 25; IC95% = 2,3 - 275.7).
Conclusion: Person to person transmission of varicella was confirmed to be the main source of infection in the hospital. Although quarantine stopped the outbreak, more practical and less expensive mesures should be taken to prevent the appearance of a future outbreak.
Downloads
References
Butler-Sloss E, Hall A. Expert witnesses, courts and the law. J R Soc Med. 2002; 95: 431-434.
Rojas JD. La pericia médica ( noción y contenido). Med leg Costa Rica 1999; 16: 52-58.
Cárdenas LM, Becerra AM. La prueba. U.S. Inter-Affairs. Recuperado el 10 de julio de 2007 en http://www.interamericanusa.com/articulos/ Auditoria/Rol-Cont-2.htm
Ryan M. The adversarial court system and the expert medical witness: ‘The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth?' Emerg Med 2003; 15: 283-288
Vinen J. The problem facing the expert medical witness: Does the tail wag the dog? Emerg Med 2003 Jun;15:213-4
Franco E. La necropsia como peritazgo médico. Revista Médico-Legal on-line. 2000; 1. Disponible en www.medicolegal.com.co/ediciones/1_
/act_med_leg_5.htm
Castillo N. Peritazgos Médicos. En: Guzmán Mora F, Franco Delgadillo E, Rosselli Cock DS. La práctica de la medicina y la ley. Colombia: Biblioteca Juridica Dike; 1999 p 331-338.
Schofferman J. Opinions and Testimony of Expert Witnesses and Independent Medical Evaluators. Pain Med 2007; 8(4): 376-382
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2008 Acta Médica Costarricense
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Los autores que publican en la revista Acta Médica Costarricense pueden distribuir, copiar, remezclar, retocar, leer, descargar, imprimir, buscar y crear a partir de su obra de modo no comercial, indicando los créditos a la revista y sus autores y compartir su obra en las mismas condiciones. Para ello se aplica la licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
