One year cross-sectional study in adult and neonatal intensive care units reveals the bacterial and antimicrobial resistance genes profiles in patients and hospital surfaces

Abstract

Several studies have shown the ubiquitous presence of bacteria in hospital surfaces, staff, and patients. Frequently, these bacteria are related to HAI (healthcare-associated infections) and carry antimicrobial resistance (AMR). These HAI-related bacteria contribute to a major public health issue by increasing patient morbidity and mortality during or after hospital stay. Bacterial high-throughput amplicon gene sequencing along with identification of AMR genes, as well as whole genome sequencing (WGS), are biotechnological tools that allow multiple-sample screening for a diversity of bacteria. In this paper, we used these methods to perform a one-year cross sectional profiling of bacteria and AMR genes in adult and neonatal intensive care units (ICU and NICU) in a Brazilian public, tertiary hospital. Our results showed high abundances of HAI-related bacteria such as S. epidermidis, S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii complex, E. coli, E. faecalis, and P. aeruginosa in patients and hospital surfaces. Most abundant AMR genes detected throughout ICU and NICU were mecA, bla CTX-M-1 group , bla SHV-like , and bla KPC-like. We found that NICU environment and patients were more widely contaminated with pathogenic bacteria than ICU. Patient samples, despite the higher bacterial load, have lower bacterial diversity than environmental samples in both units. Finally, we also identified contamination hotspots in the hospital environment showing constant frequencies of bacterial and AMR contamination throughout the year. Whole genome sequencing (WGS), 16S rRNA oligotypes, and AMR identification allowed a high-resolution characterization of the hospital microbiome profile.

A Drug-free, Self-destruction Strategy to Combat Bacterial Infections by Using the Intrinsically formed Magnetic Nanoparticles in Bacterial Pathogens

“…Notable is that most of these bacteria are listed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as nosocomial pathogens related to Healthcare-associated infections. Many of these are resistant to multiple drugs resulting in high patient morbidity and mortality [44] [60] . TEM analysis of the infected samples revealed several nanocrystals distributed in the bacteria (Figure 6Aa) .…”

Ventilation-Associated Particulate Matter Is a Potential Reservoir of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Health Facilities

“…However, as PM is well-known for carrying pathogenic bacteria [ 38 , 39 ] and viruses [ 40 , 41 ], we hypothesised that the dust from the hospital ventilation systems might represent a potential vehicle for multiple MDRO. As distinct hospital units have different compositions of microbial populations [ 66 , 67 ] and surgical site infections account for the significant proportion of HCAIs [ 13 ], we compared surgical and non-surgical units in relation to the physicochemical and microbial profile of Vent-PM. Furthermore, we made a similar comparison between intensive and elective care units by taking into account a substantially higher prevalence of HCAIs in the former [ 3 ].…”

Draft Genome Sequences of Enterobacteriales Strains Isolated from the International Space Station

“…Members of the order Enterobacteriales have been found to exhibit human pathogenicity and therefore pose a health risk for people on Earth and for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) ( 1 , 2 ). The latter is of concern for long-duration missions, as astronauts have been shown to be immunocompromised ( 3 ).…”