Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. A high rate of carbapenem-susceptible Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-Acinetobacter baumannii ACB -complex in clinical specimens led to the implementation of a pathogen-based surveillance on a bed surgical intensive care unit SICU in a German tertiary care centre.
Additional infection prevention and control IPC measures were introduced as follows: epidemiological investigations, hand hygiene training, additional terminal cleaning and disinfection incl. UV-light, screening for carbapenem-susceptible A. Hospital-acquired infections were classified according to the CDC definitions.
Fourty three out of 48 isolates were classified as hospital-acquired detection on or after 3rd day of admission. Nearly all isolates were identified as A. Twelve patients developed A. All other isolates were distinct from each other.
Nearly all transmission events of the two clonal clusters were confirmed by conventional epidemiology. Transmissions stopped after a period of several months. Environmental sampling revealed a relevant dissemination of A. Introduction of the additional screening revealed a significantly earlier detection of carbapenem-susceptible A. A molecular and infection surveillance of ACB-complex based on identification to the species level, classic epidemiology and genotyping revealed simultaneously occurring independent transmission events and clusters of hospital-acquired A.
This underlines the importance of such an extensive surveillance methodology in IPC programmes also for carbapenem-susceptible A. Keywords: Infection control, Surveillance, Bacterial typing, Acinetobacter baumannii.
