epidemiology

The importance of patient sharing between hospitals on MRSA transmission

Jon Otter (@jonotter) MRSA , , , , ,

In a remarkable quirk of academic publishing, two virtually identical studies by separate research groups in the UK (one in London, and one in Cambridge) published a week apart have come to the same conclusion: that we are missing a sizable portion of MRSA transmission by focussing solely on wards in a single hospital. A referral-network level view is required for an accurate picture of MRSA transmission. (You may have seen some press about the Cambridge article, e.g. on the BBC here.)

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Looking back on a CPE plasmid attack in the Northwest of England

Jon Otter (@jonotter) CRE , , , , , ,

A genomic study of 44 isolates of CPE from various species identified between 2008 and 2010, mainly from the Northwest of England, has concluded that plasmids played a key role in the early dissemination of CPE.

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Special issue on MDR-GNR

Jon Otter (@jonotter) Antibiotic resistance, CRE , , , ,

The Journal of Hospital Infection have published a welcome special issue on multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. The collection includes some updates on epidemiology, staff carriage (again!), clinical microbiology, and patient perspectives on CPE, and is well worth a read.

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CPE: a good reason to avoid surgery in Spain!

Jon Otter (@jonotter) CRE , , ,

A clear simple study has a stark headline: 16% of admissions to a Spanish surgical ICU carry CPE. This sort of carriage prevalence is at a ‘practice-affecting’ level: the empiric antibiotic choices may be altered and you begin to wonder what is left when the first signs of infection develop in almost 1 in every 5 patients…

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How to predict ESBL bloodstream infection?

marcbonten ESBL , , ,

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 →

Can we really halve Gram-negative BSIs (GNBSIs) by 2021? Kiernan vs. Otter Mk II

Jon Otter (@jonotter) GNBSI , , , , , , ,

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…

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How much S. aureus is hospital acquired? Mk II

Jon Otter (@jonotter) Epidemiology, Transmission , , , , ,

I posted a blog a couple of years ago (was it really that long!) on a fascinating study suggesting that only 1/5 of S. aureus in hospital patients is hospital-acquired. My key conclusion from that study was that the number of potential sources for S. aureus that the team investigated was inadequate to draw any firm conclusions (they didn’t include staff, surfaces, or visitors). I concluded that ‘the next frontier of transmission mapping must be a more comprehensive evaluation of other potential sources…’. The authors must have been reading, because this study from the same group was published recently in Lancet ID, which is a more comprehensive evaluation of other potential sources.

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