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Background: is a well-known and challenging pathogen in neonatal intensive care units. It is responsible for severe infections and can cause nosocomial outbreaks. Methods: We present the infection control response to a cluster which occurred in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. Results and conclusions: The presented comprehensive and decisive hygiene management response starting with the very first case aims especially at early detection and immediate interruption of nosocomial transmission. Frequent and sensitive microbiological screening, rigorous spatial isolation of colonized infants, and reinforcing adherence to hand hygiene are essential in this response, which comprises eight measures. It prevented a full-blown outbreak.

Introduction: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus infections are a significant healthcare risk for immunocompromised patients. In addition to community onset, nosocomial acquisition and transmission may also occur. Detection of asymptomatic shedders (e.g., patients in the incubation period or immunosuppressed long term shedders) faitates control of nosocomial transmission.Methods: To strengthen the existing infection control concept, a PCR-based screening for RSV and influenza virus was implemented for all patients lacking respiratory symptoms (asymptomatic patients) who were hospitalized on an adult and a pediatric hemato-oncological ward. Laboratory results of this screening were analyzed retrospectively.Results: 665 respiratory specimens were obtained for screening from 251 patients (26% were 18 years and younger) from December 2016 to April 2017. In 23 patients without respiratory symptoms, either influenza virus or RSV infection was found, resulting in a detection rate of about 9%. In 6 patients, the infection was presumably detected during the incubation period, because an increase of viral load was observed in subsequent specimens. Positive screening results facilitated timely implementation of adequate infection control precautions. Nosocomial clusters of RSV or influenza were not detected during the screening period on the two wards.Conclusion: The seasonal screening program expanded our existing infection control concept in terms of patients lacking respiratory symptoms who shed influenza virus or RSV. It enabled us to identify 23 RSV or influenza infections in patients lacking respiratory symptoms in a period and thus to rapidly take isolation precautions.

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) occur in hospitalized patients, causing both infection and colonization. In recent years, there has been an increase in VRE in German and other hospitals, raising the question of how to control this epidemic best. To better understand the specific epidemiology and to guide infection control, we conducted a retrospective cohort study analyzing all patients with VRE at Hannover Medical School, a tertiary university clinic in Germany that specializes in solid organ transplantation. Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of patients with VRE from 2015–2017 were collected. Basic epidemiologic parameters, including VRE incidence and incidence density, were calculated. Independent risk factors for nosocomial VRE infection compared to colonization were assessed using a logistic regression model. There were 1,492 VRE cases corresponding to 822 individual patients. The incidence was 0.8 VRE cases per 100 cases. A total of 536 (35.9%) of the 1,492 VRE cases were acquired nosocomially. Of the 1,492 cases, 912 cases had VRE-positive samples (894 Enterococcus (E.) faecium and 18 E. faecalis) in our hospital laboratory and the remaining cases were known VRE carriers. The vanB-phenotype was observed in 369 of the 894 (41.3%) E. faecium isolates and in 6 of the 18 (33.3%) E. faecalis isolates. There was an increase over time in the vanB-phenotype proportion in E. faecium (2015: 63 of 171, 36.8%, 2016: 115 of 322, 35.7% and 2017: 191 of 401, 47.6%). A total of 107 cases had a VRE infection (7.2% of all VRE cases) according to the criteria of the German National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections. The remaining cases were only colonized. Among other factors, leukocytopenia (<1,000/μL), the use of a central venous catheter and the visceral surgery medical specialty were independently associated with nosocomial VRE infection. VRE imposed a relevant and increasing infection control burden at our hospital. Nosocomial VRE infection was predominantly found in certain medical specialties, such as hematology and oncology and visceral surgery. Infection control efforts should focus on these highly affected patient groups/specialties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Preterm infants and critically ill neonates are predisposed to nosocomial infections as sepsis. Moreover, these infants acquire commensal bacteria, which might become potentially harmful. On-ward transmission of these bacteria can cause outbreaks.Aim: To report the findings of a prospective surveillance of bacterial colonization and primary sepsis in preterm infants and neonates.Methods: The results of the surveillance of bacterial colonization of the gut and the respiratory tract, targeting meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and Gram-negative bacteria from November 2016 to March 2018 were analysed. Bacterial colonization was compared to surveillance of sepsis.Findings: Six-hundred and seventy-one patients were admitted and 87.0 % (N=584) of the patients were screened; 48.3% (N=282) of the patients screened were colonized with at least one of the bacteria included in the screening; 26.2% of them (N=74) had multi-drug-resistant strains. A total of 534 bacterial isolates were found. The most frequently found species were Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella oxytoca and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Three MRSA but no VRE were detected. The surveillance detected a K. pneumoniae cluster involving nine patients. There were 23 blood-culture-confirmed sepsis episodes; 60.9% (N=14) were caused by staphylococci. Gram-negative bacteria (one Klebsiella aerogenes and two E. cloacae) caused three sepsis episodes which were preceded by colonization with the respective isolates.Conclusions: Surveillance of colonization provided a comprehensive overview of species and antibiotic resistance patterns. It allowed early detection of a colonization cluster. Knowledge of colonization and surveillance of sepsis is useful for guiding infection control measures and antibiotic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]