The days of serial admission screening for CPE are numbered

Jon Otter (@jonotter) CRE , , , ,

The current national guidelines for CPE in England recommend three serial admission screens each separated by 48 hours to confirm a negative carrier status combined with pre-emptive isolation. Even leaving aside the infeasibility of pre-emptive isolation, this approach introduces a host of operational challenges. In a study just published in JHI, we find report that serial admission screens do not improving the detection of CPE. However, there was a striking apparent increase in the rate of carriage of other resistant Gram-negative bacteria in the early days of hospital admission, suggesting either an unmasking of pre-existing carriage or acquisition of resistant Gram-negative gut flora.

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Attacking the fecal veneer (part 2)

marcbonten Antibiotic resistance, C. difficile, Cleaning, Contamination, Decolonisation, environmental contamination, Infection Prevention and Control, interventions, MRSA, VRE

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

Jon Otter (@jonotter) Cleaning , , ,

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.

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Antibiotic resistance after the toilet is flushed

marcbonten Antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial resistance, Cleaning, Contamination, environmental contamination

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.
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Fosfomycin: the hottest drug in town!? News from ECCMID 2018

marcbonten Antibiotic resistance, antibiotic stewardship, Conferences, Roundup, Urinary Tract Infection

In our team Thijs ten Doesschate does a PhD in clinical epidemiology addressing some clinical aspects on fosfomycin; An old antibiotic, active against Enterobacteriaceae, and surfacing as promising alternative to beta-lactams and fluoroquinolones in times of antibiotic resistance. He is currently coordinating a multi-center double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial to determine non-inferiority of fosfomycin (against ciprofloxaxin) in the step-down oral treatment of complicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTI). If non-inferior, we could reduce cipro usage. For himself (and now for us) he summarized fosfomycin news at ECCMID. Most presentations (O) and posters (P) can also be found on http://www.eccmidlive.org/ .

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The Trojan Horse

Martin Kiernan (@emrsa15) Biofilm, GNBSI, Hand hygiene, outbreaks, Transmission, Water

Trojan_horse_ÇanakkaleI’ve been mulling over the issue of sinks in clinical areas a lot recently and a paper published today in the Journal of Hospital Infection has really crystallised my thoughts. Sinks are everywhere; often extra ones are installed in the quest for high hand hygiene compliance however are we really thinking about the risks that these may cause apart from the traditional ones posed by Pseudomonas and Legionella? Do we even really reflect upon what they are used for? Continue reading →