Contamination of Hospital Surfaces with Bacterial Pathogens under the Current COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic remains a global health issue for several reasons, such as the low vaccination rates and a lack of developed herd immunity to the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, as well as its potential inclination to elude neutralizing antibodies. It should be noted that the severity of the COVID-19 disease is significantly affected by the presence of co-infections. Comorbid conditions are caused not only by pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms but also by some representatives of the environmental microbiome. The presence of patients with moderate and severe forms of the disease in hospitals indicates the need for epidemiological monitoring of (1) bacterial pathogens circulating in hospitals, especially the ESKAPE group pathogens, and (2) the microbiome of various surfaces in hospitals. In our study, we used combined methods based on PCR and NGS sequencing, which are widely used for epidemiological monitoring. Through this approach, we identified the DNA of pathogenic bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, CoNS, and Achromobacter spp.) on various surfaces. We also estimated the microbiome diversity of surfaces and identified the potential reservoirs of infections using 16S rRNA profiling. Although we did not assess the viability of identified microorganisms, our results indicate the possible risks of insufficient regular disinfection of surfaces, regardless of department, at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. Controlling the transmission of nosocomial diseases is critical to the successful treatment of COVID-19 patients, the rational use of antimicrobial drugs, and timely decontamination measures.

Infecções secundárias causadas por bactérias do grupo ESKAPE e impacto à saúde de pacientes com complicações da Covid-19 – uma revisão integrativa

“…Portanto, é primordial compreender o perfil epidemiológico e de suscetibilidade das colonizações e infecções causadas por estas cepas (Díaz, et al, 2021). Research, Society andDevelopment, v. 11, n. 15, e289111537997, 2022 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i15.37997 Dessa forma, as complicações causadas pela Covid-19 podem ser significativamente agravadas por outras infecções, com destaque para os patógenos do grupo ESKAPE (Pochtovyi, et al, 2021). Tal fenômeno foi demostrado em uma análise que apresentou alta prevalência de isolados pertencentes ao grupo ESKAPE (63,85%) entre as coinfecções bacterianas detectadas.…”

Next-generation sequencing and PCR technologies in monitoring the hospital microbiome and its drug resistance

“…Taking into consideration the advantages and disadvantages of the different metagenomics approaches, most of the studies aimed at characterizing the hospital microbiome and its AMR for HAI prevention are currently based on amplicon sequencing ( Poza et al, 2012 ; Bokulich et al, 2013 ; Hewitt et al, 2013 ; Oberauner et al, 2013 ; Tang et al, 2015 ; Rampelotto et al, 2019 ; Pochtovyi et al, 2021 ; Perry-Dow et al, 2022 ), whose main objective is to identify the microorganisms circulating in a certain environment at a certain time, limiting costs, and bioinformatics concerns ( Jovel et al, 2016 ). In particular, the 16S rRNA sequencing has been mostly used for hospital monitoring, due to the high prevalence of bacteria in the hospital microbiome.…”

Clinically Relevant Pathogens on Surfaces Display Differences in Survival and Transcriptomic Response in Relation to Probiotic and Traditional Cleaning Strategies

“…These organisms not only persist on surfaces for up to several months 17 but are commonly found in healthcare environments, especially in low- and middle-income countries. K. pneumoniae have been found on surfaces in hospitals in Brazil 16, 15 , Tunisia 17 , Russia 18 , China 19 and Ghana 20 A. baumannii was found on surfaces in hospitals in Brazil 21 , Turkey 21 , Saudi Arabia 22 and on the surfaces of medical devices in Iran 23 . It was also found on surfaces in buildings surrounding hospitals in the US 24 .…”