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 1 metre from Paz Aranega Bou who, together with Ginny Moore and other colleagues has published this nice paper . So many papers on sinks now and I do wonder if we have lost sight of what they do and what they really are.
Cleaning
“Why Dutch hospitals are so good at beating superbugs”
It is with great pleasure that I ask your attention for this article that appeared in the Economist. Yes, we still have low resistance rates in our hospitals and if you’re interested in how that happened, read it. The prosaic composition contains two parts; a very realistic thriller-like opening, followed by a second part with a rather unrealistic explanation. Both parts are separated by a short sentence of absolute nonsense. Time for a review. Continue reading
Attacking the fecal veneer (part 2)
Last year (Jan 17, 2017) I blogged on an excellent pragmatic cluster-randomized crossover study in which 4 patient room cleaning strategies were tested for their effectiveness to reduce acquisition of bacterial carriage for the incoming patients. The authors’ conclusion was that “enhanced terminal room disinfection decreases the risk of pathogen acquisition”, which I interpreted as “Not for C. diff, may be for MRSA and yes for VRE.” Now the same group published the effects of these interventions on infection/colonization with these pathogens in ALL patients admitted to the hospital during the study period, see. Authors’ conclusion this time: “Enhanced terminal room disinfection with UV in a targeted subset of high-risk rooms led to a decrease in hospital-wide incidence of C difficile and VRE.” Really? Continue reading
The inaugural Healthcare Cleaning Forum
Today was the inaugural Healthcare Cleaning Forum. The plan was to showcase some healthcare cleaning and disinfection science at the Interclean Conference in Amsterdam (which is a huge general cleaning show). I think we managed to create some awareness about the unique challenges of cleaning and disinfection in healthcare outside of the usual crowd.
Antibiotic resistance after the toilet is flushed
Last week Jon ended his reflection with a grade A recommendation to close the toilet lid before flushing, as the best way to minimize the potential impact of “toilet flushing plumes”. Even better: do not flush at all. This week we take it from there, in a discovery of what happens subsequently. Let’s take the loo with the highest likelihood of being soiled with antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs): the hospital loo. Elena Buelow, former Phd student in our group and now post-doc in Limoges, France, quantified how hospital sewage contributes to the quantity and diversity of ARGs in the general sewerage system. The work was published on-line today.
Continue reading
Attacking the fecal veneer*
What an excellent start of 2017. A great study from the USA today in Lancet: In a pragmatic cluster-randomized crossover study they tested 4 patient room cleaning strategies on the effectiveness to reduce acquisition with relevant bacteria for the incoming patients. The conclusion states that “enhanced terminal room disinfection decreases the risk of pathogen acquisition.” Yet, this paper is so “data-dense” that you must read the methods (and supplements) to get the picture. In one shot: Not for C. diff, may be for MRSA and yes for VRE. Continue reading
Breaking the chain of infection – hygiene is everyone’s responsibility
As International Infection Prevention Week (#IIPW) continues, Prof Sally Bloomfield writes a guest blog on the principles of breaking the chain of infection. Whilst the blog is focused on home and everyday life settings, the principles are relevant to healthcare facilities too!
This is international Infection Prevention Week. To address this year’s theme “Breaking the Chain of Infection” the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH) has produced a simple online resource Breaking the Chain of Infection.
Back to the floor..
A little while ago I blogged about the excellent study from Nottingham that demonstrated significant VRE and MRSA contamination on socks used to prevent falls in the hospitalised elderly. This has been followed by another paper suggesting that shoe coverings undurprisingly become contaminated. So, what? How does this really impact on transmission? A new study from Curtis Donskey’s group has looked at hand contamination in patients directly relating to floor contamination. Continue reading
Endoscope Reprocessing Survey
Recent reports of multidrug-resistant infections related to contaminated endoscopes, which have intricate mechanisms and channels that are especially difficult to clean, have raised awareness about the necessity for meticulous reprocessing of all types of endoscopes to prevent the transmission of pathogens to patients.
In response to concerns from various countries about inadequately reprocessed endoscopes and to prevent further transmittal of infections by endoscopes, the ISC Infection Prevention & Control Working Group prioritized this issue in a meeting earlier this year and created a survey on current Endoscope Reprocessing Practices that could be used to compare such practices of institutions around the globe.
We would ask you to share the link to the on-line survey and encourage as many of your colleagues from various health care facilities to complete this. To complete this survey you need to be involved in Endoscope reprocessing activities or know the guidelines and structure of your institutions with regard to Endoscope reprocessing.
Thank you for your participation and for sharing the link!
Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6ZSGF5L
This checklist was created by the following members of ISC IPC working group. Andreas Voss, Alex Friedrich, Peter Collignon, Moi Lin Ling, Brenda Ang, Wing Hong Seto, Paul Tambyah, Eli Perencevich, Marin Schweizer, Leanne Frazer, Achilleas Gikas, Tom Gottlieb, Joost Hopman, Nikki Kenters, Inge Huijskens, Kalisvar Marimuthu, Rehab El-Sokkary, Yogandree Ramsamy, Margaret Vos, Ermira Tartari, Debkishore Gupta.
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 