To determine the scope, source, and mode of transmission of a multifacility outbreak of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Acinetobacter baumannii.

Outbreak investigation.

Residents and patients in skilled nursing facilities, long-term acute-care hospital, and acute-care hospitals.

A case was defined as the incident isolate from clinical or surveillance cultures of XDR Acinetobacter baumannii resistant to imipenem or meropenem and nonsusceptible to all but 1 or 2 antibiotic classes in a patient in an Oregon healthcare facility during January 2012–December 2014. We queried clinical laboratories, reviewed medical records, oversaw patient and environmental surveillance surveys at 2 facilities, and recommended interventions. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and molecular analysis were performed.

We identified 21 cases, highly related by PFGE or healthcare facility exposure. Overall, 17 patients (81%) were admitted to either long-term acute-care hospital A (n=8), or skilled nursing facility A (n=8), or both (n=1) prior to XDR A. baumannii isolation. Interfacility communication of patient or resident XDR status was not performed during transfer between facilities. The rare plasmid-encoded carbapenemase gene blaOXA-237 was present in 16 outbreak isolates. Contact precautions, chlorhexidine baths, enhanced environmental cleaning, and interfacility communication were implemented for cases to halt transmission.

Interfacility transmission of XDR A. baumannii carrying the rare blaOXA-237 was facilitated by transfer of affected patients without communication to receiving facilities.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1335–1341

To determine whether antimicrobial-impregnated textiles decrease the acquisition of pathogens by healthcare provider (HCP) clothing.

We completed a 3-arm randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of 2 types of antimicrobial-impregnated clothing compared to standard HCP clothing. Cultures were obtained from each nurse participant, the healthcare environment, and patients during each shift. The primary outcome was the change in total contamination on nurse scrubs, measured as the sum of colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria.

Nurses working in medical and surgical ICUs in a 936-bed tertiary-care hospital.

Nurse subjects wore standard cotton-polyester surgical scrubs (control), scrubs that contained a complex element compound with a silver-alloy embedded in its fibers (Scrub 1), or scrubs impregnated with an organosilane-based quaternary ammonium and a hydrophobic fluoroacrylate copolymer emulsion (Scrub 2). Nurse participants were blinded to scrub type and randomly participated in all 3 arms during 3 consecutive 12-hour shifts in the intensive care unit.

In total, 40 nurses were enrolled and completed 3 shifts. Analyses of 2,919 cultures from the environment and 2,185 from HCP clothing showed that scrub type was not associated with a change in HCP clothing contamination (P=.70). Mean difference estimates were 0.118 for the Scrub 1 arm (95% confidence interval [CI], −0.206 to 0.441; P=.48) and 0.009 for the Scrub 2 rm (95% CI, −0.323 to 0.342; P=.96) compared to the control. HCP became newly contaminated with important pathogens during 19 of the 120 shifts (16%).

Antimicrobial-impregnated scrubs were not effective at reducing HCP contamination. However, the environment is an important source of HCP clothing contamination.

Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT 02645214

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1147–1154

To determine the prevalence and acquisition of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), plasmid-mediated AmpCs (pAmpCs), and carbapenemases (“MDR Enterobacteriaceae”) colonizing children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Prospective study.

40-bed PICU.

Admission and weekly thereafter rectal surveillance swabs were collected on all pediatric patients during a 6-month study period. Routine phenotypic identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing were performed. Enterobacteriaceae displaying characteristic resistance profiles underwent further molecular characterization to identify genetic determinants of resistance likely to be transmitted on mobile genetic elements and to evaluate relatedness of strains including DNA microarray, multilocus sequence typing, repetitive sequence-based PCR, and hsp60 sequencing typing.

Evaluating 854 swabs from unique children, the overall prevalence of colonization with an MDR Enterobacteriaceae upon admission to the PICU based on β-lactamase gene identification was 4.3% (n=37), including 2.8% ESBLs (n=24), 1.3% pAmpCs (n=11), and 0.2% carbapenemases (n=2). Among 157 pediatric patients contributing 603 subsequent weekly swabs, 6 children (3.8%) acquired an incident MDR Enterobacteriaceae during their PICU stay. One child acquired a pAmpC (E. coli containing blaDHA) related to an isolate from another patient.

Approximately 4% of children admitted to a PICU were colonized with MDR Enterobacteriaceae (based on β-lactamase gene identification) and an additional 4% of children who remained in the PICU for at least 1 week acquired 1 of these organisms during their PICU stay. The acquired MDR Enterobacteriaceae were relatively heterogeneous, suggesting that a single source was not responsible for the introduction of these resistance mechanisms into the PICU setting.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:535–543