To assess the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the incidence of central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), Clostridioides difficile infections (CDIs), and methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections (BSIs) in California acute-care hospitals.

Retrospective cohort and before-and-after study.

We compared standardized infection ratios (SIRs) for CLABSI, CDI, and MRSA BSI from the second half of 2020 to the second half of 2019. We performed interrupted time-series (ITS) analyses for these infections to assess departures from long-term trends. We also examined the association between the proportion of facility beds that were occupied by COVID-19 patients in May and June of 2020 and the incidence of infections using negative binomial models. In addition, we compared standardized antimicrobial administration ratios (SAARs) for the second halves of 2019 and 2020.

We detected substantial and significant increases in the SIRs for CLABSI and MRSA BSI from 2019 to 2020. For the ITS analysis, CLABSI and had significant positive values for the pandemic onset level-change parameters, and CLABSI and MRSA BSI had significant positive values for the postinterruption slope-change parameters. We also detected a positive association between facility COVID-19 patient occupancy and CLABSI and MRSA BSI incidence. We did not detect associations with the onset of the pandemic or COVID-19 patient occupancy and CDI. The SAAR for all antibacterial drugs decreased slightly, but the SAAR for drugs with a high risk for CDI increased slightly.

This study adds to a body of literature documenting increases in CLABSI and MRSA BSI incidence during the pandemic.

To determine whether countries that adopted the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (NSPA) achieved a reduced risk of needlestick injuries (NSIs).

In this meta-analysis, 3 international databases (Embase, PubMed, and MEDLINE EBSCO) and 1 Chinese database (Airiti Library) were searched using appropriate keywords to retrieve relevant articles, including multiyear NSI incidences that were published after 2010. The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Prevalence Studies was used to evaluate article prevalence. A binary random-effects model was used to estimate risk ratio as summary effect. A log scale was used to evaluate differences in risk ratios of NSIs between countries that adopted versus those that did not adopt the NSPA.

In total, 11 articles were included in the meta-analysis from 9 countries, and NSI incidence rates were surveyed between 1993 and 2016. The risk ratios of NSIs in countries with and without the NSPA were 0.78 (95% CI, 0.67–0.91) and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.85–1.12), respectively, and the ratio of risk ratios was 0.79 (95% CI, 0.65–0.98). Reduction in NSI incidence was more prominent in nurses than in physicians.

Our findings suggest that the mandatory use of safety-engineered medical devices in countries that adopted the NSPA had lower NSI incidence in healthcare workers compared with countries without needlestick safety and prevention regulatory policies. Further studies are needed to develop preventive strategies to protect against NSIs in physicians, which should be incorporated into the standards of care established by national regulatory agencies.

Current practice guidelines recommend cefazolin, cefoxitin, cefotetan, or ampicillin-sulbactam as first-line antibiotic prophylaxis in hysterectomy. We undertook this systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine whether cefazolin, with limited antianaerobic spectrum, is as effective in preventing surgical site-infection (SSI) as the other first-choice antimicrobials that have more extensive antianaerobic activity.

We searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Central, and EMBASE for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCT) in any language up to January 23, 2018. We only included trials that measured SSI (our primary outcome) defined as superficial, deep, or organ space. We excluded trials of β-lactams no longer in clinical use.

In terms of SSI incidence, cefazolin use was not inferior to its comparator in 12 of 13 individual RCTs included in the analysis. The meta-analysis summary estimate showed a significantly higher SSI risk with cefazolin versus cefoxitin or cefotetan (risk ratio, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.04–2.77; P = .03). However, most studies included nonstandardized dosing and duration of antimicrobial prophylaxis, had indeterminate or high risk of bias, did not include patients with gynecological malignancies, and/or were older RCTs not reflective of current clinical practices.

Due to inherent limitations associated with old RCTs with limited relevance to contemporary surgery, an RCT of cefazolin versus regimens with significant antianaerobic spectrum is needed to establish the optimal choice for SSI prevention in hysterectomy.

Prevention of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a national priority and may be facilitated by deployment of the Targeted Assessment for Prevention (TAP) Strategy, a quality improvement framework providing a focused approach to infection prevention. This article describes the process and outcomes of TAP Strategy implementation for CDI prevention in a healthcare system.

Hospital A was identified based on CDI surveillance data indicating an excess burden of infections above the national goal; hospitals B and C participated as part of systemwide deployment. TAP facility assessments were administered to staff to identify infection control gaps and inform CDI prevention interventions. Retrospective analysis was performed using negative-binomial, interrupted time series (ITS) regression to assess overall effect of targeted CDI prevention efforts. Analysis included hospital-onset, laboratory-identified C. difficile event data for 18 months before and after implementation of the TAP facility assessments.

The systemwide monthly CDI rate significantly decreased at the intervention (β2, −44%; P = .017), and the postintervention CDI rate trend showed a sustained decrease (β1 + β3; −12% per month; P = .008). At an individual hospital level, the CDI rate trend significantly decreased in the postintervention period at hospital A only (β1 + β3, −26% per month; P = .003).

This project demonstrates TAP Strategy implementation in a healthcare system, yielding significant decrease in the laboratory-identified C. difficile rate trend in the postintervention period at the system level and in hospital A. This project highlights the potential benefit of directing prevention efforts to facilities with the highest burden of excess infections to more efficiently reduce CDI rates.

To describe an outbreak of sequence type (ST)2 Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) detected by a recently implemented multilocus sequence type (MLST)-based prospective genomic surveillance system using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) sequencing.

Hemato-oncology ward of a public tertiary referral centre.

From February 2022, we began prospectively sequencing all C. difficile isolated from inpatients at our institution on the ONT MinION device, with the output being an MLST. Bed-movement data are used to construct real-time ST-specific incidence charts based on ward exposures over the preceding three months.

Between February and October 2022, 76 of 118 (64.4%) CDI cases were successfully sequenced. There was wide ST variation across cases and the hospital, with only four different STs being seen in >4 patients. A clear predominance of ST2 CDI cases emerged among patients with exposure to our hemato-oncology ward between May and October 2022, which totalled ten patients. There was no detectable rise in overall CDI incidence for the ward or hospital due to the outbreak. Following a change in cleaning product to an accelerated hydrogen peroxide wipe and several other interventions, no further outbreak-associated ST2 cases were detected. A retrospective phylogenetic analysis using original sequence data showed clustering of the suspected outbreak cases, with the exception of two cases that were retrospectively excluded from the outbreak.

Prospective genomic surveillance of C. difficile using ONT sequencing permitted the identification of an outbreak of ST2 CDI that would have otherwise gone undetected.

We evaluated the risk of patients contracting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during their hospital stay to inform the safety of hospitalization for a non–COVID-19 indication during this pandemic.

A case series of adult patients hospitalized for 2 or more nights from May 15 to June 15, 2020 at large tertiary-care hospital in the midwestern United States was reviewed. All patients were screened at admission with the severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Selected adult patients were also tested by IgG serology. After dismissal, patients with negative serology and PCR at admission were asked to undergo repeat serologic testing at 14–21 days after discharge. The primary outcome was healthcare-associated COVID-19 defined as a new positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test on or after day 4 of hospital stay or within 7 days of hospital dismissal, or seroconversion in patients previously established as seronegative.

Of the 2,068 eligible adult patients, 1,778 (86.0%) completed admission PCR testing, while 1,339 (64.7%) also completed admission serology testing. Of the 1,310 (97.8%) who were both PCR and seronegative, 445 (34.0%) repeated postdischarge serology testing. No healthcare-associated COVID-19 cases were detected during the study period. Of 1,310 eligible PCR and seronegative adults, no patients tested PCR positive during hospital admission (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.0%–0.3%). Of the 445 (34.0%) who completed postdischarge serology testing, no patients seroconverted (0.0%; 95% CI, 0.0%–0.9%).

We found low likelihood of hospital-associated COVID-19 with strict adherence to universal masking, physical distancing, and hand hygiene along with limited visitors and screening of admissions with PCR.

We investigated concurrent outbreaks of Pseudomonas aeruginosa carrying blaVIM (VIM-CRPA) and Enterobacterales carrying blaKPC (KPC-CRE) at a long-term acute-care hospital (LTACH A).

We defined an incident case as the first detection of blaKPC or blaVIM from a patient’s clinical cultures or colonization screening test. We reviewed medical records and performed infection control assessments, colonization screening, environmental sampling, and molecular characterization of carbapenemase-producing organisms from clinical and environmental sources by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and whole-genome sequencing.

From July 2017 to December 2018, 76 incident cases were identified from 69 case patients: 51 had blaKPC, 11 had blaVIM, and 7 had blaVIM and blaKPC. Also, blaKPC were identified from 7 Enterobacterales, and all blaVIM were P. aeruginosa. We observed gaps in hand hygiene, and we recovered KPC-CRE and VIM-CRPA from drains and toilets. We identified 4 KPC alleles and 2 VIM alleles; 2 KPC alleles were located on plasmids that were identified across multiple Enterobacterales and in both clinical and environmental isolates.

Our response to a single patient colonized with VIM-CRPA and KPC-CRE identified concurrent CPO outbreaks at LTACH A. Epidemiologic and genomic investigations indicated that the observed diversity was due to a combination of multiple introductions of VIM-CRPA and KPC-CRE and to the transfer of carbapenemase genes across different bacteria species and strains. Improved infection control, including interventions that minimized potential spread from wastewater premise plumbing, stopped transmission.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) remains a significant public health concern, resulting in excess morbidity, mortality, and costs. Additional insight into the burden of CDI in adults aged <65 years is needed.

A 6-year retrospective cohort study was conducted using data extracted from United States Veterans Health Administration electronic medical records.

Patients aged 18–64 years on January 1, 2011, were followed until incident CDI, death, loss-to-follow-up, or December 31, 2016. CDI was identified by a diagnosis code accompanied by metronidazole, vancomycin, or fidaxomicin therapy, or positive laboratory test. The clinical setting of CDI onset was defined according to 2017 SHEA-IDSA guidelines.

Of 1,073,900 patients, 10,534 had a CDI during follow-up. The overall incidence rate was 177 CDIs per 100,000 person years, rising steadily from 164 per 100,000 person years in 2011 to 189 per 100,000 person years in 2016. Those with a CDI were slightly older (55 vs 51 years) and sicker, with a higher baseline Charlson comorbidity index score (1.4 vs 0.5) than those without an infection. Nearly half (48%) of all incident CDIs were community associated, and this proportion rose from 41% in 2011 to 56% in 2016.

The findings from this large retrospective study indicate that CDI incidence, driven primarily by increasing community-associated infection, is rising among young and middle-aged adult Veterans with high service-related disability. The increasing burden of community associated CDI in this vulnerable population warrants attention. Future studies quantifying the economic and societal burden of CDI will inform decisions surrounding prevention strategies.