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Sundermann AJ, Rangachar Srinivasa V, Mills EG, Griffith MP, Evans E, Chen J, Waggle KD, Snyder GM, Pless LL, Harrison LH, Van Tyne D. Genomic sequencing surveillance of patients colonized with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) improves detection of hospital-associated transmission. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.05.01.24306710. [PMID: 38746387 PMCID: PMC11092704 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.01.24306710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Background Vancomycin-resistant enterococcal (VRE) infections pose significant challenges in healthcare. Transmission dynamics of VRE are complex, often involving patient colonization and subsequent transmission through various healthcare-associated vectors. We utilized a whole genome sequencing (WGS) surveillance program at our institution to better understand the contribution of clinical and colonizing isolates to VRE transmission. Methods We performed whole genome sequencing on 352 VRE clinical isolates collected over 34 months and 891 rectal screening isolates collected over a 9-month nested period, and used single nucleotide polymorphisms to assess relatedness. We then performed a geo-temporal transmission analysis considering both clinical and rectal screening isolates compared with clinical isolates alone, and calculated 30-day outcomes of patients. Results VRE rectal carriage constituted 87.3% of VRE acquisition, with an average monthly acquisition rate of 7.6 per 1000 patient days. We identified 185 genetically related clusters containing 2-42 isolates and encompassing 69.6% of all isolates in the dataset. The inclusion of rectal swab isolates increased the detection of clinical isolate clusters (from 53% to 67%, P<0.01). Geo-temporal analysis identified hotspot locations of VRE transmission. Patients with clinical VRE isolates that were closely related to previously sampled rectal swab isolates experienced 30-day ICU admission (17.5%), hospital readmission (9.2%), and death (13.3%). Conclusions Our findings describe the high burden of VRE transmission at our hospital and shed light on the importance of using WGS surveillance of both clinical and rectal screening isolates to better understand the transmission of this pathogen. This study highlights the potential utility of incorporating WGS surveillance of VRE into routine hospital practice for improving infection prevention and patient safety.
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Hourigan D, Stefanovic E, Hill C, Ross RP. Promiscuous, persistent and problematic: insights into current enterococcal genomics to guide therapeutic strategy. BMC Microbiol 2024; 24:103. [PMID: 38539119 PMCID: PMC10976773 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-024-03243-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are major opportunistic pathogens and the causative agents of serious diseases, such as urinary tract infections and endocarditis. VRE strains mainly include species of Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis which can colonise the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of patients and, following growth and persistence in the gut, can transfer to blood resulting in systemic dissemination in the body. Advancements in genomics have revealed that hospital-associated VRE strains are characterised by increased numbers of mobile genetic elements, higher numbers of antibiotic resistance genes and often lack active CRISPR-Cas systems. Additionally, comparative genomics have increased our understanding of dissemination routes among patients and healthcare workers. Since the efficiency of currently available antibiotics is rapidly declining, new measures to control infection and dissemination of these persistent pathogens are urgently needed. These approaches include combinatory administration of antibiotics, strengthening colonisation resistance of the gut microbiota to reduce VRE proliferation through commensals or probiotic bacteria, or switching to non-antibiotic bacterial killers, such as bacteriophages or bacteriocins. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge of the genomics of VRE isolates and state-of-the-art therapeutic advances against VRE infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Hourigan
- APC Microbiome Ireland, Biosciences Institute, Biosciences Research Institute, College Rd, University College, Cork, Ireland
- School of Microbiology, University College Cork, College Rd, University College, Cork, Ireland
| | - Ewelina Stefanovic
- APC Microbiome Ireland, Biosciences Institute, Biosciences Research Institute, College Rd, University College, Cork, Ireland
- Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Moorepark West, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
| | - Colin Hill
- APC Microbiome Ireland, Biosciences Institute, Biosciences Research Institute, College Rd, University College, Cork, Ireland
- School of Microbiology, University College Cork, College Rd, University College, Cork, Ireland
| | - R Paul Ross
- APC Microbiome Ireland, Biosciences Institute, Biosciences Research Institute, College Rd, University College, Cork, Ireland.
- School of Microbiology, University College Cork, College Rd, University College, Cork, Ireland.
- Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Moorepark West, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland.
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Permana B, Harris PNA, Roberts LW, Cuddihy T, Paterson DL, Beatson SA, Forde BM. HAIviz: an interactive dashboard for visualising and integrating healthcare-associated genomic epidemiological data. Microb Genom 2024; 10:001200. [PMID: 38358326 PMCID: PMC10926687 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Existing tools for phylogeographic and epidemiological visualisation primarily provide a macro-geographic view of epidemic and pandemic transmission events but offer little support for detailed investigation of outbreaks in healthcare settings. Here, we present HAIviz, an interactive web-based application designed for integrating and visualising genomic epidemiological information to improve the tracking of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). HAIviz displays and links the outbreak timeline, building map, phylogenetic tree, patient bed movements, and transmission network on a single interactive dashboard. HAIviz has been developed for bacterial outbreak investigations but can be utilised for general epidemiological investigations focused on built environments for which visualisation to customised maps is required. This paper describes and demonstrates the application of HAIviz for HAI outbreak investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Budi Permana
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
- Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health, Queensland, Australia
| | - Patrick N. A. Harris
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
- Pathology Queensland, Central Laboratory, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
| | - Leah W. Roberts
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
- Centre for Immunology and Infection Control, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Thom Cuddihy
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
| | - David L. Paterson
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
- ADVANCE-ID, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Scott A. Beatson
- School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
- Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Brian M. Forde
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia
- Australian Infectious Disease Research Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
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Thomsen J, Abdulrazzak NM, AlRand H, Menezes GA, Moubareck CA, Everett DB, Senok A, Podbielski A. Epidemiology of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in the United Arab Emirates: a retrospective analysis of 12 years of national AMR surveillance data. Front Public Health 2023; 11:1275778. [PMID: 38089023 PMCID: PMC10715431 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1275778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Enterococci are usually low pathogenic, but can cause invasive disease under certain circumstances, including urinary tract infections, bacteremia, endocarditis, and meningitis, and are associated with peritonitis and intra-abdominal abscesses. Increasing resistance of enterococci to glycopeptides and fluoroquinolones, and high-level resistance to aminoglycosides is a concern. National antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance data for enterococci from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Gulf region is scarce. Methods A retrospective 12-year analysis of N = 37,909 non-duplicate diagnostic Enterococcus spp. isolates from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was conducted. Data was generated by routine patient care during 2010-2021, collected by trained personnel and reported by participating surveillance sites to the UAE National AMR Surveillance program. Data analysis was conducted with WHONET. Results Enterococcus faecalis was the most commonly reported species (81.5%), followed by Enterococcus faecium (8.5%), and other enterococci species (4.8%). Phenotypically vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were found in 1.8% of Enterococcus spp. isolates. Prevalence of VRE (%VRE) was highest for E. faecium (8.1%), followed by E. faecalis (0.9%). A significant level of resistance to glycopeptides (%VRE) for these two species has been observed in the majority of observed years [E. faecalis (0-2.2%), 2010: 0%, 2021: 0.6%] and E. faecium (0-14.2%, 2010: 0%, 2021: 5.8%). Resistance to fluoroquinolones was between 17 and 29% (E. faecalis) and was higher for E. faecium (between 42 and 83%). VRE were associated with higher patient mortality (RR: 2.97), admission to intensive care units (RR: 2.25), and increased length of stay (six excess inpatient days per VRE case), as compared to vancomycin-susceptible Enterococcus spp. Discussion Published data on Enterococcus infections, in particular VRE-infections, in the UAE and MENA region is scarce. Our data demonstrates that VRE-enterococci are relatively rare in the UAE, however showing an increasing resistance trend for several clinically important antibiotic classes, causing a concern for the treatment of serious infections caused by enterococci. This study also demonstrates that VRE were associated with higher mortality, increased intensive care unit admission rates, and longer hospitalization, thus poorer clinical outcome and higher associated costs in the UAE. We recommend the expansion of current surveillance techniques (e.g., local VRE screening), stricter infection prevention and control strategies, and better stewardship interventions. Further studies on the molecular epidemiology of enterococci are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jens Thomsen
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, Abu Dhabi Public Health Center, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Najiba M. Abdulrazzak
- Al Kuwait Hospital Dubai, Emirates Health Services Establishment (EHS), Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| | - Hussain AlRand
- Public Health Sector, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| | | | - Godfred Antony Menezes
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Medical and Health Sciences University, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates
| | - Carole A. Moubareck
- College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
| | - Dean B. Everett
- Department of Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Research Center, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Infection Research Unit, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Abiola Senok
- College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- School of Dentistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas Podbielski
- Institute of Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hygiene, University Medicine, Rostock, Germany
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