I am doing a talk in Portugal later this week covering the nine decades of antibiotics since Fleming’s discovery in 1928. The last part will be about how the next decade of AMR looks globally – I’d like to know how you’re feeling about this so thought I’d run a quick poll.
Year: 2018
Shortages
Shortages?! Slowly, I get used to it. Basic antibiotics such as penicillins, CHX-wipes, or now, mupirocin. From what I hear we have to expect severe shortages (= no product) for the next few months. As the use of mupirocin for nasal decolonization of S. aureus (in combination with CHX skin wash) has become part of the pre-operative care for certain indications, the obvious question is: WHAT SHOULD I USE INSTEAD?
Are our attempts to contain CPE going down the drain?
I posted recently on the potential risk of CPE contamination of sinks, drains, and hospital wastewater. The question in my mind then was whether contamination is a smoking gun or innocent bystander regarding CPE transmission? What we really need is an intervention to show that better management of sinks and drains results in reduce CPE transmission. And now, we have one! The findings suggest that attempts to control CPE will go down the drain if we don’t intervene to improvement the management of sinks and drains.
The reality of AMR in Greece
This week I attend the general assembly of COMBACTE, this year in Athens. COMBACTE stands for COMBatting AntibiotiC resistance in Europe (www.combacte.com) and is part of the New Drugs for Bad Bugs (ND4BB) program of the Innovative Medicines Initiative. Our local host is professor George Daikos, who opened the meeting with an overview of the epidemiology of antibiotic resistance in his country. Continue reading
Preventing S. aureus SSI: Who does what? (part 2)
A month ago I blogged on the practices of pre-operative (or better peri-operative) treatment of nasal S. aureus carriage to prevent S. aureus surgical site infection (SSI) in orthopaedic or cardiothoracic surgery patients. The issue brought forward was that a “treat-all” (thus “screen none”) strategy is more feasible, more effective and cheaper than the “screen & treat” strategy. The latter strategy, is associated with less mupirocin exposure and thus less selective pressure for mupirocin-resistance genes. There was a poll with 2 questions. What is your current practice for patients undergoing orthopaedic or cardiothoracic surgery and what do you think the strategy should be, with 3 options for each question; “do nothing”, “screen & treat”, or “treat all”. Today the results. Continue reading
How to predict ESBL (part 5)
A brief update on the ESBL predict study, after the last update from 6 months ago. Tim Deelen from our group is still running the show and we are still seeking hospitals for participation. It’s for free, it’s easy, relevant and fun! We passed the 5,500 episodes and we learn a lot, including how countries deal with the ethical aspects of this study. Continue reading
CPE transmission: modes and modulators
I was asked to do a talk today on the modes of CPE transmission at a PHE Workshop on tackling CPE. It caused me to do a lot of thinking and write a new presentation, so I thought I’d share. You can download the slides here.
Counting the cost of contact precautions
A Swiss study has found that the mean cost of a contact precautions day is £130. This is useful in helping us to understand the financial impact of infection prevention and HCAI.
CPE contamination of hospital wastewater: smoking gun or innocent bystander?
A recent US study has investigated CPE contamination of sinks, drains, and wastewater. Carbapenemase-producing bacteria were identified throughout the drainage and water system, from drains in patient rooms, right through to wastewater sampled through manholes adjacent to the hospital. My main question in all of this is whether this huge reservoir of carbapenemases in hospital wastewater is a risk for patients. The lack of genetic similarity between isolates in hospital wastewater and isolates from patients suggest not, but I suspect there’s an indirect link and these carbapenemases find their way into isolates affecting humans, which is supported by genetic links between the plasmids carrying the carbapenemases.
The antibiotic resistance crisis resolved by bacteriophages (part 3)
Last October Dutch people were “informed” about the potential of bacteriophages. In short, “bacteriophages work where antibiotics fail because of resistance in critically ill patients, something that is already known for 100 years, and that is neglected by modern medicine”. Some questions were raised, see here and here, but curretly Dutch physicians receive many/daily requests from patients on phage therapy and the most desperate patients pay thousands of euros to seek help abroad, without reimbursement from health insurance. Last week, we had invited the most experienced clinical experts and scientists acting at the cutting edge of preclinical bacteriophage research. Here is my impression of the clinical part. Continue reading
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 