The common practice among pilgrims and medical personnel of using surgical facemasks to protect themselves against ARI should be discontinued and regular use of alcohol-based hand scrubs should be more vigorously encouraged. Further research is needed to evaluate the protective value of N95 facemasks against ARI during the Hajj period.

to be an independent factor that influenced the Gensini score (p=0.021).

The prevalence of sleep complaints increases steadily with age. Studies investigating insomnia among elderly people living in geriatric homes, especially among Egyptians, are scarce. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of insomnia symptoms among the elderly living in geriatric homes in Alexandria and their correlates. A cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of elderly population of geriatric homes in Alexandria was implemented. A total of 177 persons aged 60 years or older participated. Difficulty initiating sleep was reported by 65% of the participants. Approximately half of them had difficulty maintaining their sleep (50.8%) or had non-restful sleep (51.4%). Short sleep was reported by 43.5% of the participants, while early morning awakening was reported by 28.2%. Advanced age (> or = 75 years) was significantly associated with increased risk for early morning awakening, non-restful sleep and short sleep. Women had approximately a fourfold risk of non-restful sleep as opposed to men. Short stay in geriatric homes (<1 year) was associated with 2.5-fold increased risk of non-restful sleep. Unmarried status was strongly and positively related to difficulty to maintain sleep and non-restful sleep. Depressive status was significantly associated with an increased risk of difficulty to maintain sleep and decreased risk of early morning awakening. Conclusively, the present study showed that insomnia symptoms are highly prevalent among the elderly living in geriatric homes. It also revealed that although age, gender, and other socio-demographic factors are correlated with insomnia symptoms, other factors are highly important. Health care providers should take these factors in consideration when dealing with elderly patients who complain of insomnia.

The objectives of the current study are to define how many and what kind of nosocomial infections are occurring, what are the causative microbes and what kind of drugs can be used in treatment of infection at Al-Hada Armed Forces Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia during the year 2004. A prospective study was implemented for all cases admitted at Al-Hada Armed Forces Hospital during the period 1st January, 2004 till 31st December, 2004 and which developed infection. Determination of nosocomial infections was performed using standardized CDC criteria. A total of 1382 patients had developed infection during hospital admission and were included in the study. Of them, 668 (48.3%) had nosocomial infection and 714 (51.7%) had community-acquired infection. Among those who developed nosocomial infections, 216 (32.3%), 172 (25.7%) and 124 (18.6%) had respiratory tract (RTI), urinary tract (UTI) and blood stream infections (BSI) respectively. Surgical site infection (SSI) was reported in 86 cases (12.9%). The overall nosocomial infection rate along the study period was 4.98 per 100 discharged patients. Gram-positive organisms were reported in 31.8%. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant S. aureus) was the commonest (10.2%), followed by coagulase negative staphylococci (8.5%) and MSSA (Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, 7.4%). While Gram-negative organisms were reported in 66.2%, E. coli was the commonest (22.3%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (17.6%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (9.9%). Acinetobacter spp. and MRSA were highly sensitive to Imipenem (88.6%) and Vancomycin (98.5%) respectively. E. coli were highly sensitive to most of the antimicrobial agents except ampicillin (26.6%). Conclusions: Pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and blood stream infections made up the great majority of nosocomial infections. There is a need for further risk assessment associated with main types of infection.