This paper describes culture-based detection of C. auris in wastewater and the epidemiologic link between isolated strains and southern Nevada, USA, hospitals within the sampled sewershed. The results illustrate the potential of wastewater surveillance for containing C. auris.
This article describes a new program underway in King County aimed at early identification of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs), with the goal of mitigating their spread in healthcare settings including those that serve the most vulnerable. A key project goal is to implement a surveillance system to identify and mitigate the spread of an emerging, often multi-drug resistant fungus called Candida auris or C. auris.
This article describes a cluster of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) at a hospital, where after a period of no CLABSIs from April 2019 to November 2020, experienced 7 CLABSIs from November 2020 to March 2021. This report describes the investigation into the outbreak and its principal findings, which included changes in the use of CHG-impregnated dressings as well as deviations in nursing training, documentation, and standard practices in central-line dressing care.
In 2021, a total of 119 BCC infections were associated with multiple lots of nonsterile ultrasound gel contaminated with BCC organisms. Use of this contaminated gel before percutaneous procedures likely contributed to patient infections. This outbreak highlights the importance of appropriate use of ultrasound gel within health care settings to help prevent patient infections, including the use of only sterile, single-use ultrasound gel for ultrasonography when subsequent percutaneous procedures might be performed.
In this article, a carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) cluster was identified and stopped because of due diligence of the infection preventionists at an acute care facility in Louisiana.
This article describes an unusual increase in fungal endophthalmitis cases in November 2020 after cataract surgery was reported to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, South Korea. An outbreak investigation was initiated to identify the cause. Most case-patients were exposed during surgery to ocular viscoelastic devices (OVDs) from the same manufacturer (company A). It was determined this fungal endophthalmitis outbreak was caused by a contaminated lot of OVDs and recommended discontinued use of this product. Early recognition of outbreaks and joint responses from related government agencies can reduce risk for fungal endophthalmitis.
This article reports 5 clustered acute gastroenteritis outbreaks in long-term care facilities in Utah, USA, that were linked to healthcare employees working at multiple facilities. Four outbreaks were caused by norovirus genotype GIX. We recommend continued norovirus surveillance and genotyping to determine contributions of this genotype to norovirus outbreaks.
In this podcast, BreAnne Osborn, an epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health in Salt Lake City, and Sarah Gregory discuss outbreaks of norovirus genotype IX in long-term care facilities in Utah.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to emphasize the importance of following existing recommendations for maintaining and monitoring dental waterlines. Multiple outbreaks of nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) infections have occurred in children who received pulpotomies in pediatric dental clinics where the dental treatment water contained high levels of bacteria.
This article describes an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRA) in a general hospital due to contamination of a laundry evaporative cooler and the laundry environment using multilocus sequence typing (MLST). MLST confirmed that contamination of the laundry evaporative cooler and surrounding environment caused a polyclonal CRA hospital outbreak.