What Is the Risk of Outbreaks Originating in the Operating Room?

Arjun Srinivasan, MD, associate director, Healthcare-associated Infection Prevention Programs, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explains the risk of surgeries resulting in outbreaks.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“Anyone who’s undergoing surgery can be affected when we have an outbreak in an operating room. A lot of the operating room outbreaks tend to be outbreaks of infections at the site of surgery, called surgical site infections. But, we do sometimes see other types of infections, if there are medications that are contaminated or instruments that are contaminated.

We might see infections in the bloodstream, but, usually in the operating room we’re dealing with infections at the site of the surgery. The longer, the more complex, the more extensive the surgery, the higher the risk for infections, and so the higher the risk for potential outbreaks.