Japanese Journal of Infection Prevention and Control
Online ISSN : 1883-2407
Print ISSN : 1882-532X
ISSN-L : 1882-532X
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Displaying 1-10 of 10 articles from this issue
proceedings
  • Masaki TANABE
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 77-82
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    Laws are an extension of various rules in the world. Infection control and prevention is a key area of legal regulation in the medical field. In addition to the Infectious Diseases Control Law, there are various other laws related to infectious diseases, including the Medical Care Law, which regulates nosocomial infection control; the Act on Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response, which provides measures against emerging infectious diseases; the Health Insurance Law, which regulates medical fees; and the Immunization Act. This article outlines the structure of laws and notices, how to read and research them, and major infectious disease-related laws and regulations. Changes in administrative measures following the COVID-19 pandemic will also be addressed.

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  • Chika SHIRAI, Eisuke NAKAZATO, Makoto TOYOTA, Rie FUJITA, Ayumi SEIKO, ...
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 83-87
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    We experienced against COVID-19, so reconstruction of community-based medical system is important. Public health centers support the cooperation of medical facilities and nursing homes for to improve the level of ordinary infection control. Regardless of the pandemic, community-based medicine and care for noninfectious diseases must continue with consideration of human rights.

    We hope that all medical facilities perform sustainable sharing roles as an extension of ordinary medical treatment so that we can prepare a strong community-based medical system for many health crises at all hazards.

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  • Itaru Nishizuka
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 88-91
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Sumida Ward introduced the Incident Command System (ICS) and strengthened public health center (PHC) operations. As a concrete result, we opened a "COVID-19 Mental Consultation Desk" and "Post COVID-19 condition Consultation Desk" and expanded its testing system, including its own laboratory. We have dedicated hospital beds and set up temporary medical facilities. We provided 24-h home-visit care to patients receiving home care. We developed human resources and improved operations at the PHC by introducing ICS to Sumida Ward. We have demonstrated that ICS is a useful coordination system for the continuity of PHC activities.

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Original Article
  • Kazuhiro SEKIGUCHI, Midori NISHIOKA, Namiko MORI
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 92-103
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    Appropriate initial care for patients who bring infectious diseases into a country from another country is important for providing timely medical treatment, preventing disease spread, and preventing occupational infection. This study developed a scale to measure nurses' ability to provide initial care for cases of imported infectious diseases. The literature in the fields of travel medicine, infectious disease nursing, infection control, and public health was comprehensively examined, and an item pool was prepared. After examining the content and face validity of the item pool, the approval rate and discrimination capacity were examined, and a questionnaire was created from the 102 candidate items for the scale. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 1,350 nurses working in the initial care departments of hospitals nationwide in Japan. A total of 320 responses were analyzed. An exploratory factor analysis was performed by examining the ceiling-floor effect and item-total and inter-item correlations. The "Scale of Nurses' Initial Care Ability for Imported Infectious Disease Ver. 1.0" was developed, comprising Factor 1 "Knowledge of imported infectious disease" (18 items), Factor 2 "Infectious disease nursing practice and infection control" (18 items), and Factor 3 "Infectious disease assessment and nursing care planning" (11 items). Cronbach's α coefficient for the entire scale was 0.958, and reliability was confirmed with internal consistency. From the results of a confirmatory factor analysis, the model was judged to have good goodness-of-fit and construct validity. The next step will be necessary to examine criterion validity. This scale can be used to understand educational needs and as an educational introductory tool to develop effective educational programs.

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  • Mami NAKAE, Yoshihiro FUJIYA, Koji KURONUMA, Ryo KOBAYASHI, Yuki SATO, ...
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 104-110
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    There are multiple testing methods for SARS-CoV-2 used to definitively diagnose COVID-19, but the test sensitivity and specificity are not 100%.

    Of the 421 people who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to the dedicated ward between January 1 and December 31, 2021, we experienced eight false-positive cases. Five patients were hospitalized or tested for preoperative screening purposes, but all were asymptomatic and had low pretest probability. All eight cases had no history of behavior or contact that could lead to infection, and the epidemiological link was low; therefore, the test results had to be interpreted with caution.

    Tests have limitations, and it is inevitable that there will be a certain probability of false positives. For cases in which a false-positive is suspected on the basis of the purpose of the test or clinical symptoms, it is necessary to collect the sample again and consider retesting.

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Report
  • Sena HAMANO, Satoshi TOISHI
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 111-116
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    [Background] Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the perinatal period includes not only delivery but also isolation of newborns and handling of breast milk. For the examination of babies born to SARS-CoV-2-positive pregnant women, many facilities follow the Japanese Society of Perinatal and Neonatal Medicine guidelines and test babies two times within 24 and 48 h after birth. In August 2022, an emergency recommendation was announced in Chiba, and it said that "newborns will be examined with PCR or LAMP 24 h after birth. When it is negative, we can stop isolation."

    [Objective] We clarify the changes regarding the delivery of SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers and the effects after the announcement of the guidelines.

    [Method] In February 2023, we distributed a questionnaire to 17 major perinatal medical facilities in Chiba Prefecture and collected the answers.

    [Results] Forty percent of the facilities were released from isolation with a negative test 24 h after birth, and 60% were released after a negative test 48 h after birth by the Japanese Society of Perinatal and Neonatal Medicine. There were no SARS-CoV-2 cases during the perinatal period.

    [Conclusion] In Chiba Prefecture, no obvious problems have occurred with the shortening of the SARS-CoV-2 test for babies.

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  • Maiko ASAKA, Hiroshi MATSUMOTO, Masanori HIROSE, Atsuki OGATA, Yoko FU ...
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 117-125
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    This study was conducted in cases with positive blood cultures after the inception of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Team (AST) and divided into two groups according to whether AST recommendations were accepted or not, with the aim of comparing the recommendations, patient background, and overall mortality between the two groups.

    In total, 96 adult hospitalized patients with positive blood cultures during a 1-year period beginning in January 2020 were included. We reviewed age, sex, department, length of hospitalization, medical history, comorbidities, type and duration of antimicrobial therapy, target disease, date of blood culture collection, culture results, the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, presence of diabetes and artificial devices, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), recommended contents, number of recommendations, acceptance status, and outcomes. The patients were divided into two groups: "accepted" and "not accepted." Additionally, 30-day survival after positive blood cultures were compared using survival time analysis.

    Sixty-seven and twenty-nine patients were in the accepted and not accepted groups, respectively. Among the accepted recommendations, de-escalation accounted for approximately half. There was no difference in age, sex, artificial devices, presence of diabetes, SOFA score, eGFR, recommended contents, and 30-day mortality between the two groups. The duration of antimicrobial therapy was significantly prolonged in the accepted group (p = 0.004). The 30-day survival had no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.31) because of the small number of cases and the bias between the two groups. Further studies are needed to increase the number of cases and use multivariate analysis.

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  • Seiichiro KURODA, Mizusa OKUNO, Anna KIYOMI, Shinobu IMAI, Munetoshi S ...
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 126-132
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    A clean bench is necessary for maintaining an environment compliant with Class 5 of the International Organization for Standardization 14644-1 (ISO Class 5), ensuring airflow through the workspace with a mean wind velocity of 0.3-0.6 m/s as delineated by Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) B9922. This study emphasizes wind velocity as a crucial factor influencing ventilation rates and measures wind velocity across various vertical and horizontal planes with respect to the work surface in three different models of clean benches. The findings indicate that among the models tested, the median wind velocity within 15-30 cm from the sash met JIS standards. However, the median wind velocity showed wide variation on the planes at 0-20 cm height from the work surface, while the variation was narrow on planes covered by the sash at 20-50 cm height from the work surface, yielding a constant wind velocity. These observations led to the identification of the optimal preparation area across the models as being "at least 20 cm above the work surface and within a 15-30 cm depth from the sash, with the sash opening maintained at or below 20 cm. This designated area minimizes the risk of particulate and microbial contamination of the prepared drug products, offering a standardized guideline for clean bench operation to ensure product and environmental safety.

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  • Natsumi TSUJI, Yukiko NISHIDE, Shintaro GAMURA, Hiroyuki TANAKA
    2024 Volume 39 Issue 4 Pages 133-139
    Published: July 25, 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: January 25, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    COVID-19 is the most common causative virus of nosocomial clusters. It is important for healthcare workers to prevent the introduction of the virus into hospitals. At Hospital A, the staff themselves focused on preventing infection in the home. Individual guidance was provided to staff members who had family members living with COVID-19. So far, there have been reports of household and secondary infection rates as a breakdown of positive cases; however, there have been no reports of factors that prevented infection. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the factors that can lead to household transmission from family members living together to healthcare workers. A case control study was conducted on staff members who were infected during the infectious period (13 people) and those who were not (38 people). As a result of univariate analysis using the statistical software EZR statistical analysis, the age of the infected staff group was significantly lower than that of the noninfected staff group (median 39.7 years and 48.5 years, respectively). As a risk factor for household infection, it was found that the risk increases if the first infected person is under 6 years old, especially under 3 years old (odds ratio, 16.9; P value 0.002). The risk of infection was significantly lower if the previous infection was 18 years of age or older (odds ratio, 0.19; P value 0.005). Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of infection was higher when there were two or more prior infections (odds ratio, 63.2; P value 0.0017). In addition, the implementation of individual guidance on infection control measures at home reduced the risk of infection (odds ratio, 50.9; P value 0.04).

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