BACKGROUNDWe identified an outbreak of AmpC–producingEscherichia coliinfections resistant to third-generation cephalosporins and carbapenems (CR) among 7 patients who had undergone endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography at hospital A during November 2012–August 2013. Gene sequencing revealed a shared novel mutation in ablaCMYgene and a distinctivefumC/ fimHtyping profile.OBJECTIVETo determine the extent and epidemiologic characteristics of the outbreak, identify potential sources of transmission, design and implement infection control measures, and determine the association between the CRE. coliand AmpCE. colicirculating at hospital A.METHODSWe reviewed laboratory, medical, and endoscopy reports, and endoscope reprocessing procedures. We obtained cultures from endoscopes after reprocessing as well as environmental samples and conducted pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and gene sequencing on phenotypic AmpC isolates from patients and endoscopes. Cases were those infected with phenotypic AmpC isolates (both carbapenem-susceptible and CR) and identicalblaCMY-2,fumC, andfimHalleles or related pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns.RESULTSThirty-five of 49 AmpCE. colitested met the case definition, including all CR isolates. All cases had complicated biliary disease and had undergone at least 1 endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography at hospital A. Mortality at 30 days was 16% for all patients and 56% for CR patients. Two of 8 reprocessed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography scopes harbored AmpC that matched case isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Environmental cultures were negative. No breaches in infection control were identified. Endoscopic reprocessing exceeded manufacturer’s recommended cleaning guidelines.CONCLUSIONRecommended reprocessing guidelines are not sufficient.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol2015;00(0): 1–9

In late 2005, health officials in Clark County, Washington noted a higher than expected number of Escherichia coli cases among residents and sought to identify a possible common source for infection. In order to identify risk factors, health officials conducted a retrospective cohort study and an environmental site investigation using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to identify and prevent future cases from occurring. Several lines of evidence supported raw milk as the cause of infections: 1) all ill persons drank raw milk from the same cow share; 2) illness was associated with an increasing amount of milk consumed; 3) E. coli O157:H7 was isolated from raw milk samples and environmental samples collected from the floor of the milking parlour; and 4) PFGE patterns were indistinguishable between case-patients, raw milk samples, and environmental samples. Together, these findings made clear the health risks associated with the consumption of raw milk. The high amount of media interest in this investigation empowered public health officials to work with state legislators to pass State Senate Bill 6377 in Washington State which clarified that state licensing requirements apply to all milk production facilities including cow-share programs.

BackgroundIn 2015, in addition to a United States multistate outbreak linked to contaminated ice cream, another outbreak linked to ice cream was reported in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was a hospital-acquired outbreak linked to milkshakes, made from contaminated ice cream mixes and milkshake maker, served to patients. Here we performed multiple analyses on isolates associated with this outbreak: pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, species-specific core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST), lineage-specific cgMLST and whole genome-specific MLST (wgsMLST)/outbreak-specific cgMLST. We also analyzed the prophages and virulence genes.ResultsThe outbreak isolates belonged to sequence type 1038, clonal complex 101, genetic lineage II. There were no pre-mature stop codons in inlA. Isolates contained Listeria Pathogenicity Island 1 and multiple internalins. PFGE and multiple whole genome sequencing (WGS) analyses all clustered together food, environmental and clinical isolates when compared to outgroup from the same clonal complex, which supported the finding that L. monocytogenes likely persisted in the soft serve ice cream/milkshake maker from November 2014 to November 2015 and caused 3 illnesses, and that the outbreak strain was transmitted between two ice cream production facilities. The whole genome SNP analysis, one of the two species-specific cgMLST, the lineage II-specific cgMLST and the wgsMLST/outbreak-specific cgMLST showed that L. monocytogenes cells persistent in the milkshake maker for a year formed a unique clade inside the outbreak cluster. This clustering was consistent with the cleaning practice after the outbreak was initially recognized in late 2014 and early 2015. Putative prophages were conserved among prophage-containing isolates. The loss of a putative prophage in two isolates resulted in the loss of the AscI restriction site in the prophage, which contributed to their AscI-PFGE banding pattern differences from other isolates.ConclusionsThe high resolution of WGS analyses allowed the differentiation of epidemiologically unrelated isolates, as well as the elucidation of the microevolution and persistence of isolates within the scope of one outbreak. We applied a wgsMLST scheme which is essentially the outbreak-specific cgMLST. This scheme can be combined with lineage-specific cgMLST and species-specific cgMLST to maximize the resolution of WGS.

Salmonellosis prevention should focus on safe animal contact as well as food safety.

Wohlfahrtiimonas species bacteria were isolated from the bloodstream of a patient with septicemia and wound myiasis. Environmental investigations identified a Wohlfahrtiimonas sp. among insects in the Americas and in a previously undescribed vector, the green bottle fly (Lucilia sericata). The isolates possibly represent a new species within the genus Wohlfahrtiimonas.