The following story is not a fairy tale. It is “your worst nightmare” for some, “recognition at last” for others and an important lesson for all of us. It’s the story of a great study, made possible by the unpaid collaboration of 16 ICUs, and the tremendous work of a PhD student and research nurse. Yet, two years after publication in JAMA, there appeared to be 1 error, which had a major impact on the study outcome. Continue reading
How to predict ESBL bloodstream infection?
Each day we prescribe antibiotics without knowing the specific cause of infection, yet. Some patients will have an infection caused by an ESBL-producing bug, and they would benefit from immediate treatment with a carbapenem or addition of an aminoglycoside. At the same time we don’t want to misuse carbapenems or hurt kidneys. Wouldn’t it be great if we could accurately predict who would need a carbapenem? Now you can. Continue reading
Going for GNBSI
We’ll be publishing the results of the vote on whether or not we can halve HA-GNBSI by 2021 later this week. Right now, it looks like Martin is heading for a comfortable, if somewhat depressing victory (“No, we can’t halve GNBSI by 2021”) but there’s still time to ride a wave of positivity and vote with me that “Yes, we can halve GNBSI by 2021”. So, I thought that now would be an appropriate time to review the recent JHI paper that both Martin and I referred to, providing some enhanced epidemiological data on E. coli BSIs in England.
Can we really halve Gram-negative BSIs (GNBSIs) by 2021? Kiernan vs. Otter Mk II
The UK government has recently announced their ambition to halve the rate of Gram-negative BSIs by 2021. Looking at the latest mandatory reporting dataset (see Figure 1 below), you can see why. Impressive reductions in MRSA BSI and C. difficile, but a notable increase in E. coli BSI. And this combined this with worrying data around increased antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative bacteria from the ESPAUR report. In this post, Martin Kiernan and Jon Otter present both sides of the argument as to whether Gram-negative BSIs can be reduced by 2021, with comment from Andreas Voss and Marc Bonten! And you get to vote on which side of the argument you come down on after reading the arguments. Let battle commence…
The faces of antibiotic resistance
IDSA published 13 Faces of Antimicrobial Resistance to highlight the consequences of AMR for individual patients. The report illustrates the grim future of bacterial infections. In each of the 13 cases I asked myself whether this could happen in an “AMR-virgin country” (the Netherlands), and whether likelihood of that infection had increased in the last 10 years (as in a crisis)? Continue reading
Monoclonal antibodies, the brown stuff, and preventing recurrent C. difficile infection
A fantastic NEJM study by Mark Wilcox et al. brings monoclonal antibodies* to the party in preventing recurrent C. difficile infection. In this hugely impressive RCT (well, two squashed together actually), patients who received bezlotoxumab (a monoclonal antibody against C. difficile toxin B) were significantly less likely to suffer recurrent CDI (17% for bezlotoxumab vs 27% for placebo).
Need to save some money? Then universal admission screening for CPE is for you!
Many guidelines now recommend screening some patients on admission for carriage of CPE. However, very few cost-effectiveness analyses have been performed. A Canadian group have just published a modelling study with a tantalising conclusion: universal admission screening for CPE is likely to be cost-effective, and may even be cost-saving!
Fluoroquinolone use and C. difficile infections: The English miracle not yet explained?
A few weeks ago in LID this marvellous paper, clearly demonstrated the reduction of fluoroquinolone-resistant but not fluoroquinolone-susceptible C. diff infections (CDI) in English hospitals, coined as “the English C. diff miracle”. The CDI decline coincided with the reduction of fluoroquinolone use, but also with a period in which “horizontal” infection control measures, such as hand hygiene, were improved. As the latter would be equally effective in preventing transmission of resistant and susceptible strains, the fluoroquinolone reduction was considered causative for the observed reduction. A very simple model tells us that that is not necessarily the case. Continue reading
VRE: MRSA or MRSE?
To me, VRE is an old love that never let me down. In 1995 (!) I studied its epidemiology in Chicago (using PFGE), and we described it as the “triple-threat bug”: a gut colonizer like Gram-negatives, a skin colonizer like MRSA and an environmental contaminator like C. diff. A new study in CID, using WGS, illustrates its complex epidemiology. After 20 years, that complexity seems explained, and now we can no longer avoid the question what to do with VRE. Keep on cherishing its “feared pathogen status” like MRSA, or accept that it is just something like MRSE, and stop bothering. Continue reading
Dogs can be useful – Woof of concept obtained
I’m not a dog lover. Far from it in fact, however a new paper in the Journal of Hospital Infection caught my eye today. Yesterday I was sitting in the Longitude Prize Advisory 
Committee meeting bemoaning the lack of ‘left field’ ideas coming forward. Harrison himself, winner of the original prize was such a person. He came at the problem of solving the longitude issue from a completely different direction when all of the respected science at the time was convinced that astrology was the answer. Problem: cloud, and not much of a silver lining. So we are looking for a new way to diagnose infection rapidly, distinguishing between those caused by viruses and bacteria in the hope of turning the increasing tide of resistance. So what does Fido (or Nimbus in this case) have to do with this?
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 