Revisiting the personal protective equipment components of transmission-based precautions for the prevention of COVID-19 and other respiratory virus infections in healthcare.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted some potential limitations of transmission-based precautions. The distinction between transmission through large droplets vs aerosols, which have been fundamental concepts guiding infection control measures, has been questioned, leading to considerable variation in expert recommendations on transmission-based precautions for COVID-19. Furthermore, the application of elements of contact precautions, such as the use of gloves and gowns, is based on low-quality and inconclusive evidence and may have unintended consequences, such as increased incidence of healthcare-associated infections and spread of multidrug-resistant organisms. These observations indicate a need for high-quality studies to address the knowledge gaps and a need to revisit the theoretical background regarding various modes of transmission and the definitions of terms related to transmission. Further, we should examine the implications these definitions have on the following components of transmission-based precautions: (i) respiratory protection, (ii) use of gloves and gowns for the prevention of respiratory virus infections, (iii) aerosol-generating procedures and (iv) universal masking in healthcare settings as a control measure especially during seasonal epidemics. Such a review would ensure that transmission-based precautions are consistent and rationally based on available evidence, which would facilitate decision-making, guidance development and training, as well as their application in practice.

Increasing number of cases and outbreaks caused by Candida auris in the EU/EEA, 2020 to 2021.

The number of cases of Candida auris infection or carriage and of countries reporting cases and outbreaks increased in the European Union and European Economic Area during 2020 and 2021. Eight countries reported 335 such cases in 2020 and 13 countries 655 cases in 2021. Five countries experienced outbreaks while one country reported regional endemicity. These findings highlight the need for adequate laboratory capacity and surveillance for early detection of C. auris and rapid implementation of control measures.

Large increase in bloodstream infections with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, EU/EEA, 2020 and 2021.

Recent data from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) show a large increase of +57% in Acinetobacter species bloodstream infections in the European Union and European Economic Area in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) compared with 2018-2019. Most were resistant to carbapenems, from intensive care units, and in countries with ≥ 50% carbapenem resistance in Acinetobacter spp. in 2018-2019. This highlights the requirement for reinforced Acinetobacter preparedness and infection prevention and control in Europe.

Public health considerations for transitioning beyond the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the EU/EEA.

Many countries, including some within the EU/EEA, are in the process of transitioning from the acute pandemic phase. During this transition, it is crucial that countries' strategies and activities remain guided by clear COVID-19 control objectives, which increasingly will focus on preventing and managing severe outcomes. Therefore, attention must be given to the groups that are particularly vulnerable to severe outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection, including individuals in congregate and healthcare settings. In this phase of pandemic management, a strong focus must remain on transitioning testing approaches and systems for targeted surveillance of COVID-19, capitalising on and strengthening existing systems for respiratory virus surveillance. Furthermore, it will be crucial to focus on lessons learned from the pandemic to enhance preparedness and to enact robust systems for the preparedness, detection, rapid investigation and assessment of new and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Filling existing knowledge gaps, including behavioural insights, can help guide the response to future resurgences of SARS-CoV-2 and/or the emergence of other pandemics. Finally, 'vaccine agility' will be needed to respond to changes in people's behaviours, changes in the virus, and changes in population immunity, all the while addressing issues of global health equity.

COVID-19 research priorities for non-pharmaceutical public health and social measures.

Europe is in the midst of a COVID-19 epidemic and a number of non-pharmaceutical public health and social measures have been implemented, in order to contain the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. These measures are fundamental elements of the public health approach to controlling transmission but have proven not to be sufficiently effective. Therefore, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has conducted an assessment of research gaps that can help inform policy decisions regarding the COVID-19 response. We have identified research gaps in the area of non-pharmaceutical measures, physical distancing, contact tracing, transmission, communication, mental health, seasonality and environment/climate, surveillance and behavioural aspects of COVID-19. This prioritisation exercise is a step towards the global efforts of developing a coherent research road map in coping with the current epidemic but also developing preparedness measures for the next unexpected epidemic.

Mortality review as a tool to assess the contribution of healthcare-associated infections to death: results of a multicentre validity and reproducibility study, 11 European Union countries, 2017 to 2018.

IntroductionThe contribution of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) to mortality can be estimated using statistical methods, but mortality review (MR) is better suited for routine use in clinical settings. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recently introduced MR into its HAI surveillance.AimWe evaluate validity and reproducibility of three MR measures.MethodsThe on-site investigator, usually an infection prevention and control doctor, and the clinician in charge of the patient independently reviewed records of deceased patients with bloodstream infection (BSI), pneumonia, Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) or surgical site infection (SSI), and assessed the contribution to death using 3CAT: definitely/possibly/no contribution to death; WHOCAT: sole cause/part of causal sequence but not sufficient on its own/contributory cause but unrelated to condition causing death/no contribution, based on the World Health Organization's death certificate; QUANT: Likert scale: 0 (no contribution) to 10 (definitely cause of death). Inter-rater reliability was assessed with weighted kappa (wk) and intra-cluster correlation coefficient (ICC). Reviewers rated the fit of the measures.ResultsFrom 2017 to 2018, 24 hospitals (11 countries) recorded 291 cases: 87 BSI, 113 pneumonia , 71 CDI and 20 SSI. The inter-rater reliability was: 3CAT wk 0.68 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.61-0.75); WHOCAT wk 0.65 (95% CI: 0.58-0.73); QUANT ICC 0.76 (95% CI: 0.71-0.81). Inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.72 for pneumonia to 0.52 for CDI. All three measures fitted 'reasonably' or 'well' in > 88%.ConclusionFeasibility, validity and reproducibility of these MR measures was acceptable for use in HAI surveillance.

Increasing risk of breakthrough COVID-19 in outbreaks with high attack rates in European long-term care facilities, July to October 2021.

We collected data from 10 EU/EEA countries on 240 COVID-19 outbreaks occurring from July-October 2021 in long-term care facilities with high vaccination coverage. Among 17,268 residents, 3,832 (22.2%) COVID-19 cases were reported. Median attack rate was 18.9% (country range: 2.8-52.4%), 17.4% of cases were hospitalised, 10.2% died. In fully vaccinated residents, adjusted relative risk for COVID-19 increased with outbreak attack rate. Findings highlight the importance of early outbreak detection and rapid containment through effective infection prevention and control measures.

Healthcare-Associated Legionnaires' Disease, Europe, 2008-2017.

Healthcare-associated Legionnaires' disease (HCA LD) can cause nosocomial outbreaks with high death rates. We compared community-acquired LD cases with HCA LD cases in Europe during 2008-2017 using data from The European Surveillance System. A total of 29 countries reported 40,411 community-acquired and 4,315 HCA LD cases. Of the HCA LD cases, 2,937 (68.1%) were hospital-acquired and 1,378 (31.9%) were linked to other healthcare facilities. The odds of having HCA LD were higher for women, children and persons <20 years of age, and persons >60 years of age. Out of the cases caused by Legionella pneumophila with a known serotype, community-acquired LD was more likely to be caused by L. pneumophila serogroup 1 (92.3%) than was HCA LD (85.1%). HCA LD patients were more likely to die. HCA LD is associated with specific patient demographics, causative strains, and outcomes. Healthcare facilities should consider these characteristics when designing HCA LD prevention strategies.

Candida auris: epidemiological situation, laboratory capacity and preparedness in the European Union and European Economic Area*, January 2018 to May 2019.

Between January 2018 and May 2019, 349 cases of Candida auris were reported in the European Union/European Economic Area*, 257 (73.6%) colonisations, 84 (24.1%) bloodstream infections, seven (2.0%) other infections and one case of unknown infection/colonisation status (0.3%). Most cases (97.1%, n = 339) were reported from Spain or the United Kingdom, but also for the first time in Greece, the Netherlands and Poland. Laboratory capacity and preparedness has improved since January 2018.

Targets for the reduction of antibiotic use in humans in the Transatlantic Taskforce on Antimicrobial Resistance (TATFAR) partner countries.

Unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics in human healthcare is a major driver for the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance; many countries are implementing measures to limit the overuse and misuse of antibiotics e.g. through the establishment of antimicrobial use reduction targets. We performed a review of antimicrobial use reduction goals in human medicine in Transatlantic Taskforce on Antimicrobial Resistance partner countries. On 31 March 2017, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control sent a questionnaire to National Focal Points for Antimicrobial Consumption and the National Focal Points for Antimicrobial Resistance in 28 European Union countries, Iceland and Norway. The same questionnaire was sent to the TATFAR implementers in Canada and the United States. Thirty of 32 countries replied. Only nine countries indicated that they have established targets to reduce antimicrobial use in humans. Twenty-one countries replied that no target had been established. However, 17 of these 21 countries indicated that work to establish such targets is currently underway, often in the context of developing a national action plan against antimicrobial resistance. The reported targets varied greatly between countries and can be a useful resource for countries willing to engage in the reduction of antibiotic use in humans.

Application of a new methodology and R package reveals a high burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in Germany compared to the average in the European Union/European Economic Area, 2011 to 2012.

BackgroundHealthcare-associated infections (HAIs) pose a major challenge to health systems. Burden of disease estimations in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) are useful for comparing and ranking HAIs.AimTo estimate the number of five common HAIs, their attributable number of deaths and burden for Germany.MethodsWe developed a new method and R package that builds on the approach used by the Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE) project to estimate the burden of HAIs for individual countries. We used data on healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile infection, healthcare-associated pneumonia, healthcare-associated primary bloodstream infection, healthcare-associated urinary tract infection and surgical-site infection, which were collected during the point prevalence survey of HAIs in European acute-care hospitals between 2011 and 2012.ResultsWe estimated 478,222 (95% uncertainty interval (UI): 421,350-537,787) cases for Germany, resulting in 16,245 (95% UI: 10,863-22,756) attributable deaths and 248,920 (95% UI: 178,693-336,239) DALYs. Despite the fact that Germany has a relatively low hospital prevalence of HAIs compared with the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) average, the burden of HAIs in Germany (308.2 DALYs/100,000 population; 95% UI: 221.2-416.3) was higher than the EU/EEA average (290.0 DALYs/100,000 population; 95% UI: 214.9-376.9). Our methodology is applicable to other countries in or outside of the EU/EEA. An R package is available from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=BHAI.ConclusionThis is the first study to estimate the burden of HAIs in DALYs for Germany. The large number of hospital beds may be a contributing factor for a relatively high burden of HAIs in Germany. Further focus on infection prevention control, paired with reduction of avoidable hospital stays, is needed to reduce the burden of HAIs in Germany.

Burden of healthcare-associated infections in European acute care hospitals.

Point prevalence surveys of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial use in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) from 2016 to 2017 included 310,755 patients from 1,209 acute care hospitals in 28 countries. After national validation, we estimated that 6.5% (cumulative 95% confidence interval (cCI): 5.4-7.8%) patients in acute care hospitals had at least one HAI (country-weighted prevalence). On any given day, 98,166 patients (95% cCI: 81,022-117,484) in acute care hospitals had an HAI; 3.8 million (95% cCI: 3.1-4.5 million) patients acquired an HAI each year. Our study confirmed a high annual number of HAI in healthcare facilities in the EU/EEA.

Candida auris: epidemiological situation, laboratory capacity and preparedness in European Union and European Economic Area countries, 2013 to 2017.

During 2013-2017, 620 cases of Candida auris were reported in the European Union/European Economic Area - 466 (75.2%) colonisations, 110 (17.7%) bloodstream infections, 40 (6.5%) other infections and four cases (0.6%) of unknown colonisation/infection status - the majority from four large outbreaks. Survey results showed that several countries lacked laboratory capacity and/or information on the occurrence of cases at national level. To prevent further spread, adequate laboratory capacity and infection control preparedness is required in Europe.

Healthcare-associated pneumonia in acute care hospitals in European Union/European Economic Area countries: an analysis of data from a point prevalence survey, 2011 to 2012.

An aim of the ECDC point prevalence survey (PPS) in European Union/European Economic Area acute care hospitals was to acquire standardised healthcare-associated infections (HAI) data. We analysed one of the most common HAIs in the ECDC PPS, healthcare-associated pneumonia (HAP). Standardised HAI case definitions were provided and countries were advised to recruit nationally representative subsets of hospitals. We calculated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) around prevalence estimates and adjusted for clustering at hospital level. Of 231,459 patients in the survey, 2,902 (1.3%; 95% CI: 1.2-1.3) fulfilled the case definition for a HAP. HAPs were most frequent in intensive care units (8.1%; 95% CI: 7.4-8.9) and among patients intubated on the day of the survey (15%; 95% CI: 14-17; n = 737 with HAP). The most frequently reported microorganism was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (17% of 1,403 isolates), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (12%) and Klebsiella spp. (12%). Antimicrobial resistance was common among isolated microorganisms. The most frequently prescribed antimicrobial group was penicillins, including combinations with beta-lactamase inhibitors. HAPs occur regularly among intubated and non-intubated patients, with marked differences between medical specialities. HAPs remain a priority for preventive interventions, including surveillance. Our data provide a reference for future prevalence of HAPs at various settings.

Antimicrobial use in European long-term care facilities: results from the third point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use, 2016 to 2017.

Antimicrobials are commonly prescribed and contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). In 2010, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control initiated point prevalence surveys (PPS) of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in European LTCFs, performed by external contractors as the Healthcare-Associated infections in Long-Term care facilities (HALT) projects. Here, we investigated prevalence and characteristics of antimicrobial use and antimicrobial stewardship indicators in European LTCFs in 2016-17. Twenty-four European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia participated in the third PPS in European LTCFs. Overall, 4.9% (95% confidence interval: 4.8-5.1) of LTCF residents in the EU/EEA participating countries received at least one antimicrobial. The most commonly reported Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) groups were beta-lactam antibacterials/penicillins (J01C), other antibacterials (J01X) (e.g. glycopeptide antibacterials, polymyxins), quinolones (J01M), sulfonamides and trimethoprim (J01E), and other beta-lactams (J01D). Urinary tract infections and respiratory tract infections were the main indications for antimicrobial prescription. This PPS provides updated and detailed information on antimicrobial use in LTCFs across the EU/EEA that can be used to identify targets for future interventions, follow-up of these interventions and promote prudent use of antimicrobials in European LTCFs.

Antimicrobial use in European acute care hospitals: results from the second point prevalence survey (PPS) of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use, 2016 to 2017.

Antimicrobial agents used to treat infections are life-saving. Overuse may result in more frequent adverse effects and emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. In 2016-17, we performed the second point-prevalence survey (PPS) of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use in European acute care hospitals. We included 1,209 hospitals and 310,755 patients in 28 of 31 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries. The weighted prevalence of antimicrobial use in the EU/EEA was 30.5% (95% CI: 29.2-31.9%). The most common indication for prescribing antimicrobials was treatment of a community-acquired infection, followed by treatment of HAI and surgical prophylaxis. Over half (54.2%) of antimicrobials for surgical prophylaxis were prescribed for more than 1 day. The most common infections treated by antimicrobials were respiratory tract infections and the most commonly prescribed antimicrobial agents were penicillins with beta-lactamase inhibitors. There was wide variation of patients on antimicrobials, in the selection of antimicrobial agents and in antimicrobial stewardship resources and activities across the participating countries. The results of the PPS provide detailed information on antimicrobial use in European acute care hospitals, enable comparisons between countries and hospitals, and highlight key areas for national and European action that will support efforts towards prudent use of antimicrobials.

Prevalence of healthcare-associated infections, estimated incidence and composite antimicrobial resistance index in acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities: results from two European point prevalence surveys, 2016 to 2017.

Point prevalence surveys of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial use in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) from 2016 to 2017 included 310,755 patients from 1,209 acute care hospitals (ACH) in 28 countries and 117,138 residents from 2,221 long-term care facilities (LTCF) in 23 countries. After national validation, we estimated that 6.5% (cumulative 95% confidence interval (cCI): 5.4-7.8%) patients in ACH and 3.9% (95% cCI: 2.4-6.0%) residents in LTCF had at least one HAI (country-weighted prevalence). On any given day, 98,166 patients (95% cCI: 81,022-117,484) in ACH and 129,940 (95% cCI: 79,570-197,625) residents in LTCF had an HAI. HAI episodes per year were estimated at 8.9 million (95% cCI: 4.6-15.6 million), including 4.5 million (95% cCI: 2.6-7.6 million) in ACH and 4.4 million (95% cCI: 2.0-8.0 million) in LTCF; 3.8 million (95% cCI: 3.1-4.5 million) patients acquired an HAI each year in ACH. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to selected AMR markers was 31.6% in ACH and 28.0% in LTCF. Our study confirmed a high annual number of HAI in healthcare facilities in the EU/EEA and indicated that AMR in HAI in LTCF may have reached the same level as in ACH.

Burden of Six Healthcare-Associated Infections on European Population Health: Estimating Incidence-Based Disability-Adjusted Life Years through a Population Prevalence-Based Modelling Study.

BACKGROUND: Estimating the burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) compared to other communicable diseases is an ongoing challenge given the need for good quality data on the incidence of these infections and the involved comorbidities. Based on the methodology of the Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE) project and 2011-2012 data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) point prevalence survey (PPS) of HAIs and antimicrobial use in European acute care hospitals, we estimated the burden of six common HAIs. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The included HAIs were healthcare-associated pneumonia (HAP), healthcare-associated urinary tract infection (HA UTI), surgical site infection (SSI), healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile infection (HA CDI), healthcare-associated neonatal sepsis, and healthcare-associated primary bloodstream infection (HA primary BSI). The burden of these HAIs was measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Evidence relating to the disease progression pathway of each type of HAI was collected through systematic literature reviews, in order to estimate the risks attributable to HAIs. For each of the six HAIs, gender and age group prevalence from the ECDC PPS was converted into incidence rates by applying the Rhame and Sudderth formula. We adjusted for reduced life expectancy within the hospital population using three severity groups based on McCabe score data from the ECDC PPS. We estimated that 2,609,911 new cases of HAI occur every year in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA). The cumulative burden of the six HAIs was estimated at 501 DALYs per 100,000 general population each year in EU/EEA. HAP and HA primary BSI were associated with the highest burden and represented more than 60% of the total burden, with 169 and 145 DALYs per 100,000 total population, respectively. HA UTI, SSI, HA CDI, and HA primary BSI ranked as the third to sixth syndromes in terms of burden of disease. HAP and HA primary BSI were associated with the highest burden because of their high severity. The cumulative burden of the six HAIs was higher than the total burden of all other 32 communicable diseases included in the BCoDE 2009-2013 study. The main limitations of the study are the variability in the parameter estimates, in particular the disease models' case fatalities, and the use of the Rhame and Sudderth formula for estimating incident number of cases from prevalence data. CONCLUSIONS: We estimated the EU/EEA burden of HAIs in DALYs in 2011-2012 using a transparent and evidence-based approach that allows for combining estimates of morbidity and of mortality in order to compare with other diseases and to inform a comprehensive ranking suitable for prioritization. Our results highlight the high burden of HAIs and the need for increased efforts for their prevention and control. Furthermore, our model should allow for estimations of the potential benefit of preventive measures on the burden of HAIs in the EU/EEA.

Contamination during production of heater-cooler units by Mycobacterium chimaera potential cause for invasive cardiovascular infections: results of an outbreak investigation in Germany, April 2015 to February 2016.

Invasive infections with Mycobacterium chimaera were reported in patients with previous open chest surgery and exposure to contaminated heater-cooler units (HCUs). We present results of the surveillance of clinical cases and of contaminated HCUs as well as environmental investigations in Germany up until February 2016. Clinical infections occurred in five male German cases over 50 years of age (range 53-80). Cases had been exposed to HCUs from one single manufacturer during open chest surgery up to five years prior to onset of symptoms. During environmental investigations, M. chimaera was detected in samples from used HCUs from three different countries and samples from new HCUs as well as in the environment at the manufacturing site of one manufacturer in Germany. Our investigation suggests that at least some of the M. chimaera infections may have been caused by contamination of HCUs at manufacturing site. We recommend that until sustainable measures for safe use of HCUs in operation theatres are implemented, users continue to adhere to instructions for use of HCUs and Field Safety Notices issued by the manufacturer, implement local monitoring for bacterial contamination and continuously check the websites of national and European authorities for current recommendations for the safe operation of HCUs.