To assess the extent of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) at solid organ transplant (SOT) and hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) centers in the United States.

An 18-item voluntary survey was developed to gauge current antimicrobial stewardship practices in transplant patients, examine the availability and perceived usefulness of novel diagnostics and azole levels to guide therapy, and identify challenges for implementation of ASPs at these centers.

The survey was distributed electronically to infectious disease physicians and pharmacists at adult and pediatric SOT and HCT centers during May 1–22, 2015. Facilities were deidentified.

After duplicate removal, 71 (56%) of 127 unique transplant centers in 32 states were analyzed. Forty-four sites (62%) performed at least 100 SOT annually, and 40 (56%) performed at least 100 HCT annually. Top 5 stewardship activities encompassing transplant patients were formulary restriction, guideline development, prospective audit and feedback, education, and dose optimization. Respiratory viral panels (66/66 [100%]), azole levels (64/66 [97%]), and serum/bronchoalveolar lavage galactomannan (58/66 [88%]) were perceived as most useful to guide therapy. Apparent challenges to antimicrobial stewardship included undefined duration for certain infections (53/59 [90%]), diagnostic uncertainty (47/59 [80%]), the perception that antibiotic-resistant infections required escalation (42/59 [71%]), prescriber opposition (41/59 [69%]), and costly drugs (37/59 [63%]).

ASP activities were performed at many adult and pediatric SOT and HCT centers in the United States. Diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainty in transplant patients is challenging for ASPs. Collaborative research should examine the impact of antimicrobial stewardship practices in SOT and HCT.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;1–6

To assess an intervention to limit community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) dissemination.

Randomized, controlled trial.

County Jail, Dallas, Texas.

A total of 4,196 detainees in 68 detention tanks.

Tanks were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: in group 1, detainees received cloths that contained chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) to clean their entire skin surface 3 times per week for 6 months; group 2 received identical cloths containing only water; and group 3 received no skin treatment. During the study, all newly arrived detainees were invited to enroll. Nares and hand cultures were obtained at baseline and from all current enrollees at 2 and 6 months.

At baseline, S. aureus was isolated from 41.2% and MRSA from 8.0% (nares and/or hand) of 947 enrollees. The average participation rate was 47%. At 6 months, MRSA carriage was 10.0% in group 3 and 8.7% in group 1 tanks (estimated absolute risk reduction [95% confidence interval (CI)], 1.4% [−4.8% to 7.1%]; P = .655). At 6 months, carriage of any S. aureus was 51.1% in group 3, 40.7% in group 1 (absolute risk reduction [95% CI], 10.4% [0.01%–20.1%]; P = .047), and 42.8% (absolute risk reduction [95% CI], 8.3% [−1.4% to 18.0%]; P = .099) in group 2.

Skin cleaning with CHG for 6 months in detainees, compared with no intervention, significantly decreased carriage of S. aureus, and use of water cloths produced a nonsignificant but similar decrease. A nonsignificant decrease in MRSA carriage was found with CHG cloth use.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00785200.