Oncology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Oncology, including details on cancer, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy.

An outbreak of pertussis in a hematology-oncology care unit: implications for adult vaccination policy.

Boulay BR, Murray CJ, Ptak J, Kirkland KB, Montero J, Talbot EA

Department of Medicine, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA. Brian.R.Boulay@hitchcock.org

A pertussis outbreak in a hematology-oncology care unit involved 10 (8.5%) of 117 employees. The source was an employee who contracted pertussis via a family contact. No screened patients contracted pertussis, likely because of isolation measures. Hospitals should consider employee immunization with acellular vaccine in healthcare settings where pertussis has high rates of morbidity and mortality.

Published 18 January 2006 in Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 27(1): 92-5.
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