An unusual and interesting outbreak of CPE was published recently in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Several key points: don’t rely solely on a PCR detecting the “Big 5” carbapenemases (NDM, KPC, OXA-48, IMP, VIM) – at some point you need to test for phenotypic carbapenemase activity; WGS can really help us in unravelling complex transmission routes; and covert plasmid propagation within and between species is a reality.
Year: 2020
Hello Novel Coronavirus
As I’m sure you’ve heard (unless you’ve been living under a rock), there’s something going on in China: a Novel Coronavirus has been identified, associated with an outbreak affecting 44 people (one of whom has died and a small number of whom are critically unwell) in Wuhan Providence, China. Here’s what we know so far:
CPE has landed in East London
The team at Barts Health, one of the largest NHS hospital groups in the country, has published the findings of a point prevalence screen of all inpatients for carbapenemase-producing organism (CPO) carriage. Overall, 30 (3.1%) of the 977 patient tested were carrying 35 different CPOs (all but one of which were CPE). Risk factors for CPO carriage included hospitalisation abroad, any hospitalisation, and overseas travel (especially to India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). These findings help us to understand an emerging picture of CPO in the UK.
Man’s 4th Best Hospital
To me, the end of 2019 was mind troubling. My deeply beloved mother, 76 years, was hospitalized on Dec 4th and passed away on Dec 19th due to end stage COPD. At the same time I was reading Samuel Shem’s new novel, Man’s 4th Best Hospital, the sequel to The House of God. The contrast created by my mothers’ treatment in one the smallest hospitals in our country and the book content could not have been greater, neither was the prospect of modern medicine more grim. Continue reading
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 