Dispersal of CPE from contaminated sinks and drains: a refection from Infection Prevention 2019

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019 Jon Otter (@jonotter) drains CPE, disinfection, drain, engineering solutions, environmental contamination, human factors, sink

I’ve spent the last couple of days up in Liverpool for Infection Prevention 2019. One of the highlights was a talk by Dr Paz Aranega-Bou on the issues around contamination of sinks and drains. Paz flagged a paper just published in JHI investigating the dispersal of CPE in a sink/drain test risk at PHE, showing … Continue reading Dispersal of CPE from contaminated sinks and drains: a refection from Infection Prevention 2019

Oh, the fun you can have with a urinary catheter and a drain

August 14, 2019August 14, 2019 Jon Otter (@jonotter) Disinfection catheter, CPE, drain disinfection, sink disinfection

We have blogged a fair bit recently about the risk of antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacterial contamination of sinks and drains. A new study offers a novel approach to this problem: by repurposing a balloon catheter to extend the duration of contact between a disinfectant and the sink-end of the pipe.

CPE in drains: a light at the end of the drain pipe?

May 8, 2019 Jon Otter (@jonotter) environmental hygiene CPE, drains, environmental contamination, foaming, Gram-negative bacteria, hydrogen peroxide

We have been posting for a while about the emerging recognition of CPE contamination of drains in clinical settings, which seems to be fueling some CPE transmission. Until now, there’s been plenty of publications identifying the problem, but very few presenting a solution. In fact, attempts to tackle CPE contamination of drains have had moderate … Continue reading CPE in drains: a light at the end of the drain pipe?

Are our attempts to contain CPE going down the drain?

March 28, 2018 Jon Otter (@jonotter) CRE CPE, drain, epidemiology, intervention, KPC, sink

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 … Continue reading Are our attempts to contain CPE going down the drain?

Infection prevention and control practices for CPE in Ontario, Canada – are we doing enough?

September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 Guest Blogger CRE contact precautions, contaminated water, CPE, environmental cultures, screening, survey

We’re delighted to have this guest post from Dr Alainna Jamal (bio below)… Hello from Canada! In this blog post, I’ll reflect on findings from a study by our group (the Toronto Invasive Bacterial Diseases Network), published in this month’s issue of Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol.

That sinking feeling

April 13, 2019April 13, 2019 Martin Kiernan (@emrsa15) Cleaning, Contamination, Environment, environmental contamination, environmental hygiene, General, Hand hygiene, HCAI, MDR-GNR, Transmission, Water contaminated hands, contamination, wastewater

I’m at ECCMID in Amsterdam currently listening to a nice report of an OXA-48 Klebsiella pneumoniae outbreak in Gran Canaria in which sinks were found to be contaminated and replaced. Earlier today I listened to a nice paper on how sinks that drain slowly are more likely to contaminate the local environment for up to … Continue reading That sinking feeling

What urine can tell you

March 8, 2019 marcbonten Antibiotic resistance, antibiotic stewardship, antimicrobial resistance, communication, Epidemiology, guidelines, interventions, publication

Urine should not be seen as a useless excretion product. Doping experts know, as do clinical microbiologists. In two recently published studies zillions of urine cultures were drained from computer systems and linked to primary care data, yielding very interesting findings. One study from Israel quantified the effects of direct and indirect fluoroquinolone use on … Continue reading What urine can tell you

ID Week 2018 as seen by an Infection Preventionist

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 Guest Blogger Conferences #candida, #idweek2018, amr, conference report, Ebola, Emergency Preparedness, ID Week, microbiome, One Health

Guest Blogger Barley Chironda (bio below) writes… IDWeek was held this year from Oct 3 to 7, 2018 in beautiful San Francisco. This was my fourth year in a row attending; having first attended and blogged about my first experience here in 2014. The pressure to offer IDWeek attendees a stellar conference was palpable. A week before, … Continue reading ID Week 2018 as seen by an Infection Preventionist