Controlling Multidrug-Resistant Organisms Across Patient-Sharing Networks

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health problem that threatens to reverse many of the medical therapy advances achieved over the past 4 decades. 1 Infections caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are estimated to cause 35000 deaths in the US every year 2 and increase medical costs by $4.6 billion. 3 Efforts to stem the emergence and spread of MDROs have primarily centered on the implementation of preventative interventions in acutecare facilities. While rates of colonization and infections caused by MDROs are high in many hospitals, MDRO colonization rates among residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are often far higher than those observed in tertiary care referral facilities. 4,5 Residents of LTCFs are frequently hospitalized 6 and LTCFs that provide high volumes of postacute care have repeatedly been implicated in regional outbreaks caused by epidemiologically important MDROs. [7][8][9] These findings point to a critical need to expand MDRO efforts beyond the hospital setting.