LAUSR

Viral respiratory tract infections (VRTIs) are more prevalent in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) than previously thought, with up to 52% of infants having evidence of viral carriage [1, 2]. We and others have previously reported nosocomial VRTIs can cause significant morbidity [3], particularly in preterm infants, including escalation of respiratory support, longer hospital stay, increased requirement for home oxygen and greater healthcare costs [1, 4]. Viral carriage in the airways of children and adults may have few or no symptoms [3, 5], potentially implicating them as an inadvertent source of nosocomial VRTI when visiting the NICU. During pandemics, such as the recent H1N1 influenza pandemic, this could have devastating consequences [3]; most VRTI outbreaks on NICUs trigger measures to reduce spread, including visitor restrictions [6, 7]. No studies have explored the impact of planned visitor restrictions on NICU nosocomial VRTIs. We aimed to study the impact of planned NICU winter visitor restrictions during the H1N1 pandemic. Restricting visitors on the neonatal intensive care unit to parents only during a worldwide pandemic resulted in a 39% reduction in nosocomial viral respiratory tract infections in neonatal patients. These findings need validating in a prospective trial. http://ow.ly/i8t430n2c2v