1. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and antimicrobial resistance profile of intensive care units environment in 41 Brazilian hospitals.
- Author
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de Bastiani DC, Silva CV, Christoff AP, Cruz GNF, Tavares LD, de Araújo LSR, Tomazini BM, Arns B, Piastrelli FT, Cavalcanti AB, de Oliveira LFV, and Pereira AJ
- Subjects
- Brazil, Humans, Prospective Studies, Bacteria genetics, Bacteria drug effects, Bacteria isolation & purification, Bacteria classification, Hospitals, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Anti-Bacterial Agents pharmacology, Intensive Care Units, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S genetics, Cross Infection microbiology, Drug Resistance, Bacterial genetics
- Abstract
Introduction: Infections acquired during healthcare setting stay pose significant public health threats. These infections are known as Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI), mostly caused by pathogenic bacteria, which exhibit a wide range of antimicrobial resistance. Currently, there is no knowledge about the global cleaning process of hospitals and the bacterial diversity found in ICUs of Brazilian hospitals contributing to HAI., Objective: Characterize the microbiome and common antimicrobial resistance genes present in high-touch Intensive Care Unit (ICU) surfaces, and to identify the potential contamination of the sanitizers/processes used to clean hospital surfaces., Methods: In this national, multicenter, observational, and prospective cohort, bacterial profiles and several antimicrobial resistance genes from 41 hospitals across 16 Brazilian states were evaluated. Using high-throughput 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and real-time PCR, the bacterial abundance and resistance genes presence were analyzed in both ICU environments and cleaning products., Results: We identified a wide diversity of microbial populations with a recurring presence of HAI-related bacteria among most of the hospitals. The median bacterial positivity rate in surface samples was high (88.24%), varying from 21.62 to 100% in different hospitals. Hospitals with the highest bacterial load in samples were also the ones with highest HAI-related abundances. Streptococcus spp., Corynebacterium spp. , Staphylococcus spp. , Bacillus spp., Acinetobacter spp., and bacteria from the Flavobacteriaceae family were the microorganisms most found across all hospitals. Despite each hospital particularities in bacterial composition, clustering profiles were found for surfaces and locations in the ICU. Antimicrobial resistance genes mecA , bla
KPC-like , blaNDM-like , and blaOXA-23-like were the most frequently detected in surface samples. A wide variety of sanitizers were collected, with 19 different active principles in-use, and 21% of the solutions collected showed viable bacterial growth with antimicrobial resistance genes detected., Conclusion: This study demonstrated a diverse and spread pattern of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance genes covering a large part of the national territory in ICU surface samples and in sanitizers solutions. This data should contribute to the adoption of surveillance programs to improve HAI control strategies and demonstrate that large-scale epidemiology studies must be performed to further understand the implications of bacterial contamination in hospital surfaces and sanitizer solutions., Competing Interests: DB, ACh, GC, and LO are currently full-time employees of BiomeHub (SC, Brazil), a research and consulting company specialized in microbiome technologies. BiomeHub funded the study design and analysis. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 de Bastiani, Silva, Christoff, Cruz, Tavares, de Araújo, Tomazini, Arns, Piastrelli, Cavalcanti, de Oliveira and Pereira.)- Published
- 2024
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