Phil Polgreen and colleagues here at Iowa recently published two papers on this topic: one in ICHE, also covered in the New York Times, that found the odds of a surgical site infection (SSI) admission increased about 2% with every 2.8 degree Celsius increase in monthly average temperature. The other, in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, describes a seasonal increase in cellulitis during the summer months. Several prior studies have described seasonality of S. aureus, gram-negative rod, cellulitis and surgical site infections—all with higher rates associated with higher temperature seasons or regions (see full reference list from the OFID paper, which includes prior work from Eli and colleagues on gram-negative rod infections).
Daniel J. Diekema, MD, FACP, practices infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, and hospital epidemiology in Iowa City, Iowa, splitting time between seeing patients with infectious diseases, diagnosing infections in the microbiology laboratory, and trying to prevent infections in the hospital. This post originally appeared at the blog Controversies in Hospital Infection Prevention.Daniel J. Diekema, MD, FACP, practices infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, and hospital epidemiology in Iowa City, Iowa, splitting time between seeing patients with infectious diseases, diagnosing infections in the microbiology laboratory, and trying to prevent infections in the hospital. This post originally appeared at the blog Controversies in Hospital Infection Prevention.
