Articles

Risk factors for nosocomial rectal colonization with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in hospital: a matched case–control study

During the last decade carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) became hyper-endemic in hospitals due to difficult to control spreading. Our aim is to identify risk factors for nosocomial rectal CRAB c...

Authors: Marianna Meschiari, Shaniko Kaleci, Gabriella Orlando, Silvia Selmi, Antonella Santoro, Erica Bacca, Marianna Menozzi, Erica Franceschini, Cinzia Puzzolante, Andrea Bedini, Mario Sarti, Claudia Venturelli, Elena Vecchi and Cristina Mussini

Real-world use of ceftolozane/tazobactam: a systematic literature review

Antibacterial-resistant gram-negative infections are a serious risk to global public health. Resistant Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are highly prevalent, particularly in healthcare settings, and th...

Authors: Laura Puzniak, Ryan Dillon, Thomas Palmer, Hannah Collings and Ashley Enstone

Determinants of orthopedic physicians’ self-reported compliance with surgical site infection prevention: results of the WACH-trial’s pilot survey on COM-B factors in a German university hospital

Prevention of surgical site infections (SSIs), which due to their long-term consequences are especially critical in orthopedic surgery, entails compliance with over 20 individual measures. However, little is k...

Authors: Ivonne Tomsic, Ella Ebadi, Frank Gossé, Ina Hartlep, Pamela Schipper, Christian Krauth, Bettina Schock, Iris F. Chaberny and Thomas von Lengerke

Evaluation of a multimodal intervention to promote rational antibiotic use in primary care

Increasing antimicrobial resistance is a serious societal challenge affecting outpatient, inpatient and veterinary care. The German One-Health project, RAI (Rational use of Antibiotics via Information and Communi...

Authors: Inga Petruschke, Florian Salm, Michelle Kaufmann, Antje Freytag, Jochen Gensichen, Michael Behnke, Tobias Siegfried Kramer, Regina Hanke, Petra Gastmeier and Sandra Schneider

Expert commentary on the challenges and opportunities for surgical site infection prevention through implementation of evidence-based guidelines in the Asia–Pacific Region

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the Asia–Pacific region (APAC), adversely impacting patient quality of life, fiscal productivity and placing a major econo...

Authors: K. Morikane, P. L. Russo, K. Y. Lee, M. Chakravarthy, M. L. Ling, E. Saguil, M. Spencer, W. Danker, A. Seno and E. Edmiston Charles Jr

Correction to: Economic burden of antibiotic resistance in China: a national level estimate for inpatients

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Xuemei Zhen, Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg, Xueshan Sun, Nina Zhu, Shuyan Gu and Hengjin Dong

Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in low- and middle-income countries: a scattered picture

Data on comprehensive population-based surveillance of antimicrobial resistance is lacking. In low- and middle-income countries, the challenges are high due to weak laboratory capacity, poor health systems gov...

Authors: Katia Iskandar, Laurent Molinier, Souheil Hallit, Massimo Sartelli, Timothy Craig Hardcastle, Mainul Haque, Halyna Lugova, Sameer Dhingra, Paras Sharma, Salequl Islam, Irfan Mohammed, Isa Naina Mohamed, Pierre Abi Hanna, Said El Hajj, Nurul Adilla Hayat Jamaluddin, Pascale Salameh…

There is no dose–response relationship between allogeneic blood transfusion and healthcare-associated infection: a retrospective cohort study

The association between allogeneic blood transfusion and healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is considered dose-dependent. However, this association may be confounded by transfusion duration, as prolonged ho...

Authors: Yu Lv, Qian Xiang, Jia Lin, Ying Z. Jin, Ying Fang, Hong M. Cai, Qiong D. Wei, Hui Wang, Chen Wang, Jing Chen, Jian Ye, Caixia Xie, Ting L. Li and Yu J. Wu

How do the general population behave with facemasks to prevent COVID-19 in the community? A multi-site observational study

The appropriate use of facemasks, recommended or mandated by authorities, is critical to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the community. We aim to evaluate frequency and quality of facemask use in general pop...

Authors: Colin Deschanvres, Thomas Haudebourg, Nathan Peiffer-Smadja, Karine Blanckaert, David Boutoille, Jean-Christophe Lucet and Gabriel Birgand

Barriers to implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs in three low- and middle-income country tertiary care settings: findings from a multi-site qualitative study

Antimicrobial resistance has been named as one of the top ten threats to public health in the world. Hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) can help reduce antimicrobial resistance. The purpo...

Authors: Robert Rolfe Jr, Charles Kwobah, Florida Muro, Anushka Ruwanpathirana, Furaha Lyamuya, Champica Bodinayake, Ajith Nagahawatte, Bhagya Piyasiri, Tianchen Sheng, John Bollinger, Chi Zhang, Truls Ostbye, Shamim Ali, Richard Drew, Peter Kussin, Deverick J. Anderson…

Time for a renewed focus on the role of cleaners in achieving safe health care in low- and middle-income countries

Water, sanitation and hygiene, collectively known as WASH, is an enabler of infection prevention and control (IPC), both of which contribute to safe, quality health care and the prevention of spread of antimic...

Authors: Julie Storr, Claire Kilpatrick and Karen Lee

Genetic relatedness of multidrug resistant Escherichia coli isolated from humans, chickens and poultry environments

Inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents in animal production has led to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in foodborne pathogens. Transmission of AMR foodborne pathogens from reservoirs, part...

Authors: Mabel Kamweli Aworh, Jacob K. P. Kwaga, Rene S. Hendriksen, Emmanuel C. Okolocha and Siddhartha Thakur

Prevalence of pathogenic Klebsiella pneumoniae based on PCR capsular typing harbouring carbapenemases encoding genes in Uganda tertiary hospitals

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that has been implicated as one of commonest cause of hospital and community acquired infections. The K. pneumoniae infections have considerably contributed to m...

Authors: Kenneth Ssekatawa, Denis K. Byarugaba, Jesca L. Nakavuma, Charles D. Kato, Francis Ejobi, Robert Tweyongyere and Wampande M. Eddie

Investigating potential transmission of antimicrobial resistance in an open-plan hospital ward: a cross-sectional metagenomic study of resistome dispersion in a lower middle-income setting

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a profound global health threat. Reducing AMR spread requires the identification of transmission pathways. The extent to which hospital wards represent a venue for sub...

Authors: Anushia Ashokan, Josh Hanson, Ne Myo Aung, Mar Mar Kyi, Steven L. Taylor, Jocelyn M. Choo, Erin Flynn, Fredrick Mobegi, Morgyn S. Warner, Steve L. Wesselingh, Mark A. Boyd and Geraint B. Rogers

“Seconds save lives—clean your hands”: the 5 May 2021 World Health Organization SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign

Authors: Benedetta Allegranzi, Ermira Tartari and Didier Pittet

Candida tropicalis distribution and drug resistance is correlated with ERG11 and UPC2 expression

Candida tropicalis (C. tropicalis) is an important opportunistic pathogenic Candida species that can cause nosocomial infection. In this study, we analyzed the distribution and drug susceptibility of C. tropicali...

Authors: Dan Wang, Na An, Yuwei Yang, Xianggui Yang, Yingzi Fan and Jiafu Feng

Characteristics and diversity of mutations in regulatory genes of resistance-nodulation-cell division efflux pumps in association with drug-resistant clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii

This study was aimed to characterize the genetic diversity and expression of three putative resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND)-type efflux systems and their contribution to multidrug efflux in clinical ...

Authors: Bahare Salehi, Zohreh Ghalavand, Abbas Yadegar and Gita Eslami

Development of a core outcome set for clinical trials aimed at improving antimicrobial stewardship in care homes

Diverse outcomes reported in clinical trials of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions in care homes have hindered evidence synthesis. Our main objective was to develop a core outcome set (COS) for use ...

Authors: Hoa Q. Nguyen, Declan T. Bradley, Michael M. Tunney and Carmel M. Hughes

Do we cause false positives? An experimental series on droplet or airborne SARS-CoV-2 contamination of sampling tubes during swab collection in a test center

The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic urged immense testing capacities as one cornerstone of infection control. Many institutions opened outpatient SARS-CoV-2 test centers to allow large nu...

Authors: Thomas Scheier, Cyril Shah, Michael Huber, Hugo Sax, Barbara Hasse, Huldrych F. Günthard, Alexandra Trkola and Peter W. Schreiber

Temporal trends, risk factors and outcomes of infections due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Enterobacterales in Swiss solid organ transplant recipients between 2012 and 2018

The burden of antimicrobial resistance is high in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Among Swiss SOT recipients, we assessed temporal trends of ESBL-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E), identified risk fact...

Authors: Philipp Kohler, Aline Wolfensberger, Susanne Stampf, Andreas Brönnimann, Katia Boggian, Christian van Delden, Melody Favre, Cédric Hirzel, Nina Khanna, Stefan P. Kuster, Oriol Manuel, Dionysios Neofytos, Silvio Ragozzino, Peter W. Schreiber, Laura Walti and Nicolas J. Mueller

A large-scale investigation of alcohol-based handrub (ABHR) volume: hand coverage correlations utilizing an innovative quantitative evaluation system

Current hand hygiene guidelines do not provide recommendations on a specific volume for the clinical hand rubbing procedure. According to recent studies volume should be adjusted in order to achieve complete c...

Authors: Constantinos Voniatis, Száva Bánsághi, Andrea Ferencz and Tamás Haidegger

Development of key quality indicators for appropriate antibiotic use in the Republic of Korea: results of a modified Delphi survey

An effective antibiotic stewardship program relies on the measurement of appropriate antibiotic use, on which there is a lack of consensus. We aimed to develop a set of key quality indicators (QIs) for nationw...

Authors: Bongyoung Kim, Myung Jin Lee, Se Yoon Park, Song Mi Moon, Kyoung-Ho Song, Tae Hyong Kim, Eu Suk Kim and Hong Bin Kim

A nationwide assessment of the burden of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use among surgical patients: results from Serbian point prevalence survey, 2017

As the only non-European Union (EU) country, Serbia participated in a second point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use (AMU) organized by the European Centre for ...

Authors: Vesna Šuljagić, Milica Bajčetić, Vesna Mioljević, Gorana Dragovac, Biljana Mijović, Ivana Janićijević, Zorana Đorđević, Gordana Krtinić, Violeta Rakić, Ivana Ćirković, Vladimir Nikolić and Ljiljana Marković-Denić

Correction to: Impact of environmental cleaning on the colonization and infection rates of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in patients within the intensive care unit in a tertiary hospital

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Yang Li, Hai Ge, Hui Zhou, Wanqing Zhou, Jie Zheng, Wei Chen and Xiaoli Cao

The epidemiology of carbapenem resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii complex in Germany (2014–2018): an analysis of data from the national Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance system

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii complex (CRABC) has globally emerged as a serious public health challenge. This study aimed to describe epidemiological trends and risk factors of carbapenem resistanc...

Authors: Dunja Said, Niklas Willrich, Olaniyi Ayobami, Ines Noll, Tim Eckmanns and Robby Markwart

Systematic screening on admission for SARS-CoV-2 to detect asymptomatic infections

The proportion of asymptomatic carriers of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains elusive and the potential benefit of systematic screening during the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic is contr...

Authors: Rahel N. Stadler, Laura Maurer, Lisandra Aguilar-Bultet, Fabian Franzeck, Chantal Ruchti, Richard Kühl, Andreas F. Widmer, Ruth Schindler, Roland Bingisser, Katharina M. Rentsch, Hans Pargger, Raoul Sutter, Luzius Steiner, Christoph Meier, Werner Kübler, Hans H. Hirsch…

Taxonomy, virulence determinants and antimicrobial susceptibility of Aeromonas spp. isolated from bacteremia in southeastern China

The study aimed to elucidate the species taxonomy, clinical manifestations, virulence gene profiles and antimicrobial susceptibilities of Aeromonas strains isolated from life-threatening bacteremia in southeaster...

Authors: Yao Sun, Yajie Zhao, Wenya Xu, Renchi Fang, Qing Wu, Haokuang He, Chunquan Xu, Cui Zhou, Jianming Cao, Lijiang Chen and Tieli Zhou

A new model for COVID-19 control and its implementation in the city of Honghu, China: a case report

Novel coronavirus pneumonia has been the most serious worldwide public health emergency since being identified in December 2019. The rapid spread of the pandemic and the strong human to human infection rate of...

Authors: He-ran Wang, Meng-chun Gong, Jing-Yuan Sun, Jian Sun, Yi Guo, Li Liu and Hong Zhu

Clinical and microbiological characteristics of nosocomial, healthcare-associated, and community-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae infections in Guangzhou, China

Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is a common pathogen associated with hospital and community-onset infections. This study aimed to compare the clinical and microbiological characteristics of nosocomial, heal...

Authors: Tingting Le, Ling Wang, Chaoying Zeng, Leiwen Fu, Zhihua Liu and Jing Hu

Foley catheter with noble metal alloy coating for preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infections: a large, multi-center clinical trial

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are among the most frequent healthcare-associated infections in the world. They are associated with increased mortality, prolonged hospital stay and increa...

Authors: Ylva Kai-Larsen, Stefan Grass, Bhaumik Mody, Swati Upadhyay, Hargovind L. Trivedi, Dilip. K. Pal, Santosh Babu, Bikash Bawari and Shrawan. K. Singh

Core components of infection prevention and control programs at the facility level in Georgia: key challenges and opportunities

The Georgia Ministry of Labor, Health, and Social Affairs is working to strengthen its Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Program, but until recently has lacked an assessment of performance gaps and implem...

Authors: Anna Deryabina, Meghan Lyman, Daiva Yee, Marika Gelieshvilli, Lia Sanodze, Lali Madzgarashvili, Jamine Weiss, Claire Kilpatrick, Miriam Rabkin, Beth Skaggs and Amy Kolwaite

Management of a hospital-wide vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium outbreak in a Dutch general hospital, 2014–2017: successful control using a restrictive screening strategy

The emergence of vancomycin resistant enterococci poses a major problem in healthcare settings. Here we describe a hospital-wide outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in a general hospital in The ...

Authors: Veronica Weterings, Anita van Oosten, Ellen Nieuwkoop, Jolande Nelson, Andreas Voss, Bas Wintermans, Joris van Lieshout, Jan Kluytmans and Jacobien Veenemans

Vaginal colonization with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria among women in labor in central Uganda: prevalence and associated factors

According to WHO ( CISMAC. Centre for Intervention Science in Maternal and Child health), the antimicrobial resistant bacteria considered to be clinically most important for human health and earmarked for sur...

Authors: Josephine Tumuhamye, Hans Steinsland, Freddie Bwanga, James K. Tumwine, Grace Ndeezi, David Mukunya, Olive Namugga, Agnes Napyo Kasede, Halvor Sommerfelt and Victoria Nankabirwa

Emergence of nosocomial associated opportunistic pathogens in the gut microbiome after antibiotic treatment

According to the Centers for Disease Control’s 2015 Hospital Acquired Infection Hospital Prevalence Survey, 1 in 31 hospital patients was infected with at least one nosocomial pathogen while being treated for ...

Authors: Isaac Raplee, Lacey Walker, Lei Xu, Anil Surathu, Ashok Chockalingam, Sharron Stewart, Xiaomei Han, Rodney Rouse and Zhihua Li

NeoCLEAN: a multimodal strategy to enhance environmental cleaning in a resource-limited neonatal unit

Contamination of the hospital environment contributes to neonatal bacterial colonization and infection. Cleaning of hospital surfaces and equipment is seldom audited in resource-limited settings.

Authors: A. Dramowski, M. Aucamp, A. Bekker, S. Pillay, K. Moloto, A. C. Whitelaw, M. F. Cotton and S. Coffin

Systematic review on use, cost and clinical efficacy of automated decontamination devices

More evidence is emerging on the role of surface decontamination for reducing hospital-acquired infection (HAI). Timely and adequate removal of environmental pathogens leads to measurable clinical benefit in b...

Authors: Stephanie J. Dancer and Marco-Felipe King

Ultraviolet disinfection robots to improve hospital cleaning: Real promise or just a gimmick?

The global COVID-19 pandemic due to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has challenged the availability of traditional surface disinfectants. It has also stimulated the production of ultraviolet-disinfection robo...

Authors: Magda Diab-El Schahawi, Walter Zingg, Margreet Vos, Hilary Humphreys, Lorena Lopez-Cerero, Astrid Fueszl, Jean Ralph Zahar and Elisabeth Presterl

A road-map for addressing antimicrobial resistance in low- and middle-income countries: lessons learnt from the public private participation and co-designed antimicrobial stewardship programme in the State of Kerala, India

The global concern over antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is gathering pace. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at the epicentre of this growing public health threat and governmental and healthcare orga...

Authors: Sanjeev Singh, Esmita Charani, Sarada Devi, Anuj Sharma, Fabia Edathadathil, Anil Kumar, Anup Warrier, P. S. Shareek, A. V. Jaykrishnan and K. Ellangovan

Sustainable neonatal CLABSI surveillance: consensus towards new criteria in the Netherlands

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) are a main focus of infection prevention and control initiatives in neonatal care. Standardised surveillance of neonatal CLABSI enables intra- and interf...

Authors: I. E. Heijting, T. A. J. Antonius, A. Tostmann, W. P. de Boode, M. Hogeveen and J. Hopman

Efficacy of a coordinated strategy for containment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria carriage in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the context of an active surveillance program

Antimicrobial resistance in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients is a threat, due to the frequent use of antimicrobial treatment and invasive devices in fragile babies. Since 2014 an active surveillanc...

Authors: Laura Saporito, Giorgio Graziano, Federica Mescolo, Emanuele Amodio, Vincenzo Insinga, Grazia Rinaudo, Aurora Aleo, Celestino Bonura, Marcello Vitaliti, Giovanni Corsello, Francesco Vitale, Carmelo Massimo Maida and Mario Giuffrè

Impact of targeted educational intervention towards public knowledge and perception of antibiotic use and resistance in the state of Perak, Malaysia

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern, accelerated by antibiotic overuse. Inadequate knowledge among the public has been associated with inappropriate use of antibiotics. This study determined...

Authors: Kah Shuen Thong, Chee Tao Chang, Ming Lee, Jason Choong Yin Lee, Hoo Seng Tan and Asrul Akmal Shafie

Effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on antimicrobial prevalence and prescribing in a tertiary hospital in Singapore

The deployment of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) teams to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic can lead to a loss of developed frameworks, best practices and leadership resulting in adverse impact on antimicrobial...

Authors: Tat Ming Ng, Sock Hoon Tan, Shi Thong Heng, Hui Lin Tay, Min Yi Yap, Boon Hou Chua, Christine B. Teng, David C. Lye and Tau Hong Lee

Cutibacterium avidum resists surgical skin antisepsis in the groin—a potential risk factor for periprosthetic joint infection: a quality control study

The skin commensal Cutibacterium avidum has been recognized as an emerging pathogen for periprosthetic joint infections (PJI). One currently assumes that the early occurring PJIs are a consequence of skin commens...

Authors: Steven M. Maurer, Laura Kursawe, Stefan Rahm, Julia Prinz, Annelies S. Zinkernagel, Annette Moter, Stefan P. Kuster, Reinhard Zbinden, Patrick O. Zingg and Yvonne Achermann

Bacterial contamination of neonatal intensive care units: How safe are the neonates?

Intensive care units (ICU) are essential healthcare facility for life threatening conditions. Bacterial contamination of objects/instruments in ICU is an important source of nosocomial infections. This study i...

Authors: Dharm Raj Bhatta, Supram Hosuru Subramanya, Deependra Hamal, Rajani Shrestha, Eva Gauchan, Sahisnuta Basnet, Niranjan Nayak and Shishir Gokhale

Emergency ward ultrasound: clinical audit on disinfection practices during routine and sterile examinations

In the emergency ward, where the use of ultrasound is common (including for sterile procedures), ward equipment is constantly exposed to high risks of microbiological contamination. There are no clear guidelin...

Authors: A. Andolfo, R. Maatoug, N. Peiffer-Smadja, C. Fayolle and K. Blanckaert

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance patterns of bacteria isolated from cerebrospinal fluid among children with bacterial meningitis in China from 2016 to 2018: a multicenter retrospective study

Pediatric bacterial meningitis (PBM) remains a devastating disease that causes substantial neurological morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, there are few large-scale studies on the pathogens causing PB...

Authors: Xiaoshan Peng, Qingxiong Zhu, Jing Liu, Mei Zeng, Yue Qiu, Chunhui Zhu, Yibing Cheng, Yibo Zhou, Yi Xu, Minxia Chen, Zhengwang Wen, Yiping Chen, Rui Li, Jianning Tong, Qingwen Shan, Daojiong Lin…

Simultaneous detection and ribotyping of Clostridioides difficile, and toxin gene detection directly on fecal samples

Clostridioides difficile is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea. Ribotyping of cultured strains by a PCR-based test is used to study potential transmission between patients. We aimed to develop a rapid t...

Authors: Tessel M. van Rossen, Joffrey van Prehn, Alex Koek, Marcel Jonges, Robin van Houdt, Rosa van Mansfeld, Ed J. Kuijper, Christina M. J. E. Vandenbroucke-Grauls and Andries E. Budding

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

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 th...

Authors: Yulia Rosa Saharman, Anis Karuniawati, Juliëtte A. Severin and Henri A. Verbrugh

Antimicrobial multidrug resistance in the era of COVID-19: a forgotten plight?

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global problem to which the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may further contribute. With resources deployed away from antimicrobial stewardship, evidence of substantial pr...

Authors: Eric Pelfrene, Radu Botgros and Marco Cavaleri

Enhancing engagement beyond the conference walls: analysis of Twitter use at #ICPIC2019 infection prevention and control conference

Social media may provide a tool, when coupled with a patient-included™ conference, to enhance the engagement among the general public. We describe authors and potential readers of Twitter content surrounding a...

Authors: Romain Martischang, Ermira Tartari, Claire Kilpatrick, Graham Mackenzie, Vanessa Carter, Enrique Castro-Sánchez, Hilda Márquez-Villarreal, Jonathan A. Otter, Eli Perencevich, Denise Silber, Julie Storr, Jason Tetro, Andreas Voss and Didier Pittet