Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: The New England Journal of Medicine, full text: (LINK). Extract, edited.]
------
Perspective
Preventing Lethal Hospital Outbreaks of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Thomas J. Sandora, M.D., M.P.H., and Donald A. Goldmann, M.D.
N Engl J Med 2012; 367:2168-2170 - December 6, 2012 - DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1212370
In 2011, a strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae resistant to multiple antibiotics, including carbapenems, was identified in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).1 This organism has since colonized at least 19 patients and may have caused seven deaths among patients with severe coexisting conditions. Although the spread of the organism was traced through clinical epidemiologic investigation and whole-genome sequencing, it was curtailed by ?rigorous infection-control procedures.? What does this episode tell us about how to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks?
(?)
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.
Source Information
From the Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital (T.J.S., D.A.G.); the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School (T.J.S., D.A.G.); and the Departments of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health (D.A.G.) ? all in Boston; and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Cambridge, MA (D.A.G.).
-Preventing Lethal Hospital Outbreaks of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Thomas J. Sandora, M.D., M.P.H., and Donald A. Goldmann, M.D.
N Engl J Med 2012; 367:2168-2170 - December 6, 2012 - DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1212370
In 2011, a strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae resistant to multiple antibiotics, including carbapenems, was identified in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).1 This organism has since colonized at least 19 patients and may have caused seven deaths among patients with severe coexisting conditions. Although the spread of the organism was traced through clinical epidemiologic investigation and whole-genome sequencing, it was curtailed by ?rigorous infection-control procedures.? What does this episode tell us about how to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks?
(?)
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.
Source Information
From the Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital (T.J.S., D.A.G.); the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School (T.J.S., D.A.G.); and the Departments of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health (D.A.G.) ? all in Boston; and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Cambridge, MA (D.A.G.).
------