Infection Control Matters Brett Mitchell

In this podcast, we chat with Dr Brian Forde about HAIviz. HAIviz an interactive dashboard for visualising and integrating healthcare-associated genomic epidemiological data.

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Mitch Clarke, Clinical Lead and Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Nottingham University Hospitals in the UK. We discuss an outbreak with a unique NDM CPE infection and look at where the investigations went, including a new reservoir that is a potential source - the floor scrubber.
Papers underpinning this work are here:
1. Benbow A, Clarke M, Yates C, Montgomery R, Staniforth K, Boswell T, et al. Hospital-wide healthcare-associated carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales outbreak: risks of electric floor scrubbers in catering facilities and kitchens. J Hosp Infect. 2024;146:59-65. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38341149 2. Prescott K, Billam H, Yates C, Clarke M, Montgomery R, Staniforth K, et al. Outbreak of New Delhi Metallo-Beta-lactamase Carbapenemase Producing Enterobacterales on a bone marrow transplant unit: Role of the environment. Infect Prev Pract. 2021;3:100125. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34368742

In this episode, Martin Talks to Dr Mark Wilcox OBE, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Leeds, Head of Microbiology Research & Development at Leeds University Hospitals NHS Trust and National Clinical Director for Infection Prevention and Control at NHS England. We mull over the possible reasons for the increase in hospital-onset, hospital attributed cases in England, including ribotypes and antibiotic use. Given that the NHS is under great stress, we discuss the damage potential from a ribotype 955 which shares some genetic characteristics with the 027 ribotype that caused so many problems in the UK and worldwide in the early 2000s. One thing that we agree on is that reductions targets (with teeth) have been very successful in the past and should we venture in that direction again?
Information on data collection, hospital and national typing reports for England can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/clostridium-difficile-guidance-data-and-analysis#epidemiology

In this episode, after an interesting discovery when searching Youtube, Brett and Martin mull over whether toilet plume is a risk factor for hospital-acquired pneumonia and C. difficile infections. The papers we discuss are listed below.
Goforth MP, Boone SA, Clark J, Valenzuela PB, McKinney J, Ijaz MK, et al. Impacts of lid closure during toilet flushing and of toilet bowl cleaning on viral contamination of surfaces in United States restrooms. Am J Infect Control 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2023.11.020
Best EL, Sandoe JA, Wilcox MH. Potential for aerosolization of Clostridium difficile after flushing toilets: the role of toilet lids in reducing environmental contamination risk. J Hosp Infect 2012;80(1):1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2011.08.010
Lai ACK, Tan TF, Li WS, Ip DKM. Emission strength of airborne pathogens during toilet flushing. Indoor Air 2018;28(1):73-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12406

We chat with Dr Deirdre Fitzgerald-Hughes and Aoife Kearney about a national survey undertaken in Ireland. In the survey, they explored CPE knowledge and practices of healthcare workers, including infection prevention and control staff.
There were some interesting findings that may be useful in informing IPC education and training, including convincing people that they need to know more.
The paper we discuss is:

Kearney, A., Humphreys, H., & Fitzgerald-Hughes, D. (2023). Infection prevention and control policy implementation for CPE: A cross-sectional national survey of healthcare workers reveals knowledge gaps and sub-optimal practices. Journal of Hospital Infection. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2023.12.007

 

We discussthe 90% reductionin MRSA bloostream infections in Malta and the interventions that led to this