STEWARTVILLE, Minn., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Rochester Medical Corporation
(Nasdaq: ROCM) Investigators from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center,
Baltimore Regional Burn Center, and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
Baltimore, Md., will be presenting their findings on the use of Rochester
Medical's Release-NF(TM) Catheter in burn patients.
    The presentation will be made at the Fourth Decennial International
Conference on Nosocomial and Healthcare-Associated Infections to be held in
Atlanta, Georgia, March 5th through the 9th, 2000.  The conference is
sponsored by the Center For Disease Control and Prevention, the Association
For Professionals In Infection Control and Epidemiology, the National
Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and the Society for Healthcare
Epidemiology of America.
    The investigators conclude that Rochester Medical's Release-NF catheter
was effective in reducing the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract
infections in burn patients, and that use of these catheters may play an
important role in minimizing the risk of urinary tract infections in burn
patients.
    For burn patients in particular, and hospital patients is general,
catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is a major health care
problem.  It is the single most common type of nosocomial infection, and
because of its incidence, it is responsible for an enormous aggregate burden
of morbidity, mortality, and increased health care costs.  The investigators
point out that CAUTI is a very high concern for patients hospitalized in burn
intensive care units.  These patients are at a higher risk of contracting
CAUTI than patients in any other kind of intensive care unit as reported by
the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system.
    The investigators also make the point that heavy colonization of burn
wound surfaces in close proximity to the catheter-urethral junction may make
the occurrence of CAUTI difficult to reduce using conventional methods.
Because secondary bacteremia occurs in .5 to 4.0 percent of patients with
CAUTI, and bacteremia significantly increases mortality in burn patients, it
is imperative to minimize the incidence of CAUTI in the Burn Unit.
    Anthony J. Conway, Rochester Medical's President and CEO said, "We are
extremely pleased at the important benefits our Release-NF catheter provides
for these high risk patients.  We look forward to the presentation in March.
Evidence of the value of our Release-NF technology for patients and
institutions continues to mount.  In a separate study recently published in
the December 1999 issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, clinical
investigators concluded that the in vitro antibacterial activity of Rochester
Medical's Release-NF Antibacterial Foley Catheter is markedly superior to that
of C.R. Bard's Bardex I.C. Infection Control Foley Catheter.  I believe that
in the future our technology can become the standard of excellence that
provides protection for patients against the serious problem of CAUTI that
exists in all hospitals."
    The immediately preceding statement contains forward looking statements
that involve risks and uncertainties, including the results of product
evaluations, the timing of purchases by customers, manufacturing capacities
for both current products and new products, the results of clinical tests, the
timing of clinical preference testing and product introductions, and FDA
review and response times, as well as other risk factors listed from time to
time in the Company's SEC reports, including, without limitation, the section
entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual report on Form 10-K (part II,
Item 6) for the year ended September 30, 1999.
    Rochester Medical Corporation develops, manufactures and markets latex
free disposable medical catheters and devices for urological and continence
care applications.  The company markets its products under its own Rochester
Medical(R) brand and under private label arrangements.
    For further information, please contact Anthony J. Conway, President and
CEO at 507-533-9600.

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