Electronically assisted surveillance systems of healthcare-associated infections:a systematic review

Background: Surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) is the basis of each infection control programme and, in case of acute care hospitals, should ideally include all hospital wards, medical specialties as well as all types of HAI. Traditional surveillance is labour intensive and electronically assisted surveillance systems (EASS) hold the promise to increase efficiency. Objectives: To give insight in the performance characteristics of different approaches to EASS and the quality of the studies designed to evaluate them. Methods: In this systematic review, online databases were searched and studies that compared an EASS with a traditional surveillance method were included. Two different indicators were extracted from each study, one regarding the quality of design (including reporting efficiency) and one based on the performance (e.g. specificity and sensitivity) of the EASS presented. Results: A total of 78 studies were included. The majority of EASS (n = 72) consisted of an algorithm-based selection step followed by confirmatory assessment. The algorithms used different sets of variables. Only a minority (n = 7) of EASS were hospital- wide and designed to detect all types of HAI. Sensitivity of EASS was generally high (> 0.8), but specificity varied (0.37-1). Less than 20% (n = 14) of the studies presented data on the efficiency gains achieved. Conclusions: Electronically assisted surveillance of HAI has yet to reach a mature stage and to be used routinely in healthcare settings. We recommend that future studies on the development and implementation of EASS of HAI focus on thorough validation, reproducibility, standardised datasets and detailed information on efficiency

Electronically assisted surveillance systems of healthcare-associated infections: A systematic review

Background: Surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) is the basis of each infection control programme and, in case of acute care hospitals, should ideally include all hospital wards, medical specialties as well as all types of HAI. Traditional surveillance is labour intensive and electronically assisted surveillance systems (EASS) hold the promise to increase efficiency. Objectives: To give insight in the performance characteristics of different approaches to EASS and the quality of the studies designed to evaluate them. Methods: In this systematic review, online databases were searched and studies that compared an EASS with a traditional surveillance method were included. Two different indicators were extracted from each study, one regarding the quality of design (including reporting efficiency) and one based on the performance (e.g. specificity and sensitivity) of the EASS presented. Results: A total of 78 studies were included. The majority of EASS (n = 72) consisted of an algorithm-based selection step followed by confirmatory assessment. The algorithms used different sets of variables. Only a minority (n = 7) of EASS were hospital-wide and designed to detect all types of HAI. Sensitivity of EASS was generally high (> 0.8), but specificity varied (0.37 1). Less than 20% (n = 14) of the studies presented data on the efficiency gains achieved. Conclusions: Electronically assisted surveillance of HAI has yet to reach a mature stage and to be used routinely in healthcare settings. We recommend that future studies on the development and implementation of EASS of HAI focus on thorough validation, reproducibility, standardised datasets and detailed information on efficiency

Density and molecular epidemiology of Aspergillus in air and relationship to outbreaks of Aspergillus infection

After five patients were diagnosed with nosocomial invasive aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus and A. flavus, a 14-month surveillance program for pathogenic and nonpathogenic fungal conidia in the air within and outside the University Hospital in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) was begun. A. fumigatus isolates obtained from the Department of Hematology were studied for genetic relatedness by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. This was repeated with A. fumigatus isolates contaminating culture media in the microbiology laboratory. The density of the conidia of nonpathogenic fungi in the outside air showed a seasonal variation: higher densities were measured during the summer, while lower densities were determined during the fall and winter. Hardly any variation was found in the numbers of Aspergillus conidia. We found decreasing numbers of conidia when comparing air from outside the hospital to that inside the hospital and when comparing open areas within the hospital to the closed department of hematology. The increase in the number of patients with invasive aspergillosis could not be explained by an increase in the number of Aspergillus conidia in the outside air. The short-term presence of A. flavus can only be explained by the presence of a point source, which was probably patient related. Genotyping A. fumigatus isolates from the department of hematology showed that clonally related isolates were persistently present for more than 1 year. Clinical isolates of A. fumigatus obtained during the outbreak period were different from these persistent clones. A. fumigatus isolates contaminating culture media were all genotypically identical, indicating a causative point source. Kn

Rapid detection of methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus isolates by the MRSA-screen latex agglutination test

The slide agglutination test MRSA-Screen (Denka Seiken Co., Niigata, Japan) was compared with the mecA PCR ("gold standard") for the detection of methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. The MRSA-Screen test detected the penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a) antigen in 87 of 90 genetically diverse methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) stock culture strains, leading to a sensitivity of 97%. The three discrepant MRSA strains displayed positive results only after induction of the mecA gene by exposure to methicillin. Both mecA PCR and MRSA-Screen displayed negative results among the methicillin-susceptible S. aureus strains (n = 106), as well as for Micrococcus spp. (n = 10), members of the family Enterobacteriaceae (n = 10), Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 10), and Enterococcus spp. (n = 10) (specificity = 100%). Producing the same PBP2a antigen, all 10 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis strains score positived in both the latex test and the mecA PCR. Consequently, the MRSA-Screen test should be applied only after identification of the MRSA strain to the species level to rule out coagulase-negative staphylococci. In conclusion, due to excellent specificity and sensitivity the MRSA-Screen latex test has the potential to be successfully used for routine applications in the microbiology laboratory

Infections and antimicrobial resistance in intensive care units in lower-middle income countries: a scoping review

Background: Intensive care units (ICUs) in lower-middle income countries (LMICs) are suspected to constitute a special risk for patients of acquiring infection due to multiple antibiotic resistant organisms. The aim of this systematic scoping review was to present the data published on ICU-acquired infections and on antimicrobial resistance observed in ICUs in LMICs over a 13-year period. A systematic scoping review was conducted according to the PRISMA extension guideline for scoping reviews and registered in the Open Science Framework. Main body of the abstract: Articles were sought that reported on ICU-acquired infection in LMICs between 2005 and 2018. Two reviewers parallelly reviewed 1961 titles and abstracts retrieved from five data banks, found 274 eligible and finally included 51. Most LMICs had not produced reports in Q1 or Q2 journals in this period, constituting a large gap in knowledge. However, from the reported evidence it is clear that the rate of ICU-acquired infections was comparable, albeit approximately 10% higher, in LMICs compared to high income countries. In contrast, ICU mortality was much higher in LMICs (33.6%) than in high income countries (< 20%). Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative species, especially Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae played a much more dominant role in LMIC ICUs than in those in high income countries. However, interventions to improve this situation have been shown to be feasible and effective, even cost-effective. Conclusions: Compared to high income countries the burden of ICU-acquired infection is higher in LMICs, as is the level of antimicrobial resistance; the pathogen distribution is also different. However, there is evidence that interventions are feasible and may be quite effective in these settings. Protocol Registration The protocol was registered with Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/c8vjk

Whole Genome Multi-Locus Sequence Typing and Genomic Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Analysis for Epidemiological Typing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa From Indonesian Intensive Care Units

We have previously studied carbapenem non-susceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CNPA) strains from intensive care units (ICUs) in a referral hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia (Pelegrin et al., 2019). We documented that CNPA transmissions and acquisitions among patients were variable over time and that these were not significantly reduced by a set of infection control measures. Three high risk international CNPA clones (sequence type (ST)235, ST823, ST357) dominated, and carbapenem resistance was due to carbapenemase-encoding genes and mutations in the porin OprD. Pelegrin et al. (2019) reported core genome analysis of these strains. We present a more refined and detailed whole genome-based analysis of major clones represented in the same dataset. As per our knowledge, this is the first study reporting Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (wgSNP) analysis of Pseudomonas strains. With whole genome-based Multi Locus Sequence Typing (wgMLST) of the 3 CNPA clones (ST235, ST357 and ST823), three to eleven subgroups with up to 200 allelic variants were observed for each of the CNPA clones. Furthermore, we analyzed these CNPA clone clusters for the presence of wgSNP to redefine CNPA transmission events during hospitalization. A maximum number 35350 SNPs (including non-informative wgSNPs) and 398 SNPs (ST-specific_informative-wgSNPs) were found in ST235, 34,570 SNPs (including non-informative wgSNPs) and 111 SNPs (ST-specific_informative-wgSNPs) in ST357 and 26,443 SNPs (including non-informative SNPs) and 61 SNPs (ST-specific_informative-wgSNPs) in ST823. ST-specific_Informative-wgSNPs were commonly noticed in sensor-response regulator genes. However, the majority of non-informative wgSNPs was found in conserved hypothetical proteins or in uncharacterized proteins. Of note, antibiotic resistance and virulence genes segregated according to the wgSNP analyses. A total of 8 transmission chains for ST235 strains followed by 9 and 4 possible transmission chains for ST357 and ST823 were traceable on the basis of pairwise distances of informative-wgSNPs (0 to 4 SNPs) among the strains. The present study demonstrates the value of detailed whole genome sequence analysis for highly refined epidemiological analysis of P. aeruginosa

Peritoneal defense in continuous ambulatory versus continuous cyclic peritoneal dialysis

Peritoneal defense in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis versus continuous cyclic peritoneal dialysis. Several centers have reported a lower rate of peritonitis among adult patients on continuous cyclic peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) as compared to those undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Preliminary results of our ongoing prospective randomized study comparing CAPD-Y with CCPD also suggest a lower peritonitis incidence among CCPD-treated patients. To investigate whether the two dialysis regimens could result in differences in local host defense, we studied peritoneal macrophage (PMO) function and effluent opsonic activity in eight patients established on CAPD-Y matched with eight chronic CCPD patients. Since short and long dwell times are inherent to both dialysis modalities, and we previously found that dwell time has an impact on PMO function and effluent opsonic activity, patients were studied after both a short (4hr) and a long (15hr) dwell time. In both patient groups PMO phagocytic capacity increased significantly with dwell time (39 ± 3.3% at 4hr vs. 58 ± 4.2% at 15hr in CAPD patients, and 40 ± 3.9 vs. 72 ± 3.3% in CCPD patients; P < 0.01), as did PMO peak chemiluminescence response (31 ± 4.9 vs. 77 ± 7.2 counts · min-1/104 cells in CAPD, and 22 ± 3.9 vs. 109 ± 21.2 counts · min-1/104 cells in CCPD; P < 0.01) and effluent opsonic activity (41 ± 7.6 vs. 73 ± 5.8% in CAPD and 39 ± 6.2 vs. 70 ± 5.9% in CCPD; P < 0.01). However, no significant difference was found in either variable between CAPD and CCPD patients when dwell times were equal. In conclusion, no differences were observed in PMO function or effluent opsonic activity between matched CAPD-Y and CCPD patients when dwell times were equal. In both patient groups prolongation of dwell time enhanced PMO function as well as effluent opsonic activity, thereby providing a better host defense. The improvement in peritoneal defenses may, in part, be responsible for the lower peritonitis incidence observed among CCPD-treated patients