Genomic characterization of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing and carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli from urban wastewater in Australia.

This study investigates extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing and carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli isolates from Sydney's wastewater. These isolates exhibit resistance to critical antibiotics and harbor novel resistance mechanisms. The findings highlight the importance of wastewater-based surveillance in monitoring resistance beyond the clinical setting.

Wastewater-based monitoring reveals geospatial-temporal trends for antibiotic-resistant pathogens in a large urban community.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top ten global health threats, and current surveillance programs rarely monitor it outside healthcare settings. This limits our ability to understand and manage the spread of AMR. Wastewater testing has the potential to simply, reliably and continuously survey trends in AMR outside the healthcare settings, as it captures biological material from the entire community. To establish and evaluate such a surveillance, we monitored wastewater for four clinically significant pathogens across the urban area of Greater Sydney, Australia. Untreated wastewater from 25 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) covering distinct catchment regions of 5.2 million residents was sampled between 2017 and 2019. Isolates for extended-spectrum ß-lactamases-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) were consistently detected, suggesting its endemicity in the community. Isolates for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were only occasionally detected. The flow normalized relative (FNR) ESBL-E load was positively correlated with the proportion of the population between 19 and 50 years of age, completion of vocational education and the average length of hospital stay. Collectively, these variables explained only a third of the variance of the FNR ESBL-E load, indicating further, yet-unidentified factors as a contributor to the distribution. About half of the variation in the FNR CRE load was explained by the average length of hospital stay, showing healthcare-related drivers. Interestingly, variation in the FNR VRE load was not correlated to healthcare-related parameters but to the number of schools per 10,000 population. Our study provides insight into how routine wastewater surveillance can be used to understand the factors driving the distribution of AMR in an urban community. Such information can help to manage and mitigate the emergence and spread of AMR in important human pathogens.

Nudging physical distancing behaviors during the pandemic: a field experiment on passengers in the subway stations of shiraz, Iran.

BACKGROUND: The possibility of the emergence of new pandemics necessitates further research into using simple strategies to promote social distancing behaviors in public. Most of the current evidence on effectiveness of physical distancing interventions is based on self-report and measure of intention which will not necessarily predict actual behavior. METHODS: A field experimental study was conducted in the subway stations of Shiraz, Southern Iran. The interventions were based on intuitions from protection motivation theory and consisted of using environmental nudges to notify the passengers of the pandemic situation (threat appeal) and a verbal advice on keeping a safe physical distance as an effective method of protection against COVID-19 (coping message). Average physical distancing was estimated as the number of steps between two consecutive passengers and was compared between interventions (n = 1045) and the control (n = 855) groups. RESULTS: A total of 1900 people riding on subway escalators were directly observed during two intervention conditions and the control condition. Under either threat or coping-based interventions, passengers were two times more likely (OR 2.0, 95%CI 1.5-2.7, P <  0.001) to keep a physical distance of at least 1.2 m from the traveler in front compared with those who did receive no intervention. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that there was a significant improvement in physical distancing behaviors with coping advice compared with threat appeal and the control conditions (χ2 = 120.84, df = 2, p <  0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that simple and inexpensive theory-based interventions can be used in crowded public spaces to promote physical distancing within the context of the pandemic.

Antibiotic-Resistant Gram-negative Bacteria Carriage in Healthcare Workers Working in an Intensive Care Unit.

Little is known about antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) intestinal carriage among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Vietnam. All HCWs at a tertiary intensive care units were asked to undertake weekly rectal swabs. Among 40 participants, 65% (26/40) carried extended spectrum ß-lactamases (ESBL)/AmpC ß-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli. Two HCWs colonized with ESBL/AmpC ß-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. One HCW colonized with Acinetobacter baumannii. No one carried Pseudomonas spp.. A quarter (10/40) of HCWs were identified as persistent and frequent carriers. There is an urgent need to screen antibiotic-resistant GNB among HCWs and improve HCWs' hand hygiene compliance to reduce the transmission of antibiotic-resistant GNB in the hospital.

Comparison of seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections with cumulative and imputed COVID-19 cases: Systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Accurate seroprevalence estimates of SARS-CoV-2 in different populations could clarify the extent to which current testing strategies are identifying all active infection, and hence the true magnitude and spread of the infection. Our primary objective was to identify valid seroprevalence studies of SARS-CoV-2 infection and compare their estimates with the reported, and imputed, COVID-19 case rates within the same population at the same time point. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane COVID-19 trials, and Europe-PMC for published studies and pre-prints that reported anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG, IgM and/or IgA antibodies for serosurveys of the general community from 1 Jan to 12 Aug 2020. RESULTS: Of the 2199 studies identified, 170 were assessed for full text and 17 studies representing 15 regions and 118,297 subjects were includable. The seroprevalence proportions in 8 studies ranged between 1%-10%, with 5 studies under 1%, and 4 over 10%-from the notably hard-hit regions of Gangelt, Germany; Northwest Iran; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Stockholm, Sweden. For seropositive cases who were not previously identified as COVID-19 cases, the majority had prior COVID-like symptoms. The estimated seroprevalences ranged from 0.56-717 times greater than the number of reported cumulative cases-half of the studies reported greater than 10 times more SARS-CoV-2 infections than the cumulative number of cases. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence is well below "herd immunity" in all countries studied. The estimated number of infections, however, were much greater than the number of reported cases and deaths in almost all locations. The majority of seropositive people reported prior COVID-like symptoms, suggesting that undertesting of symptomatic people may be causing a substantial under-ascertainment of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

COVID-19 in aged care homes: a comparison of effects initial government policies had in the UK (primarily focussing on England) and Australia during the first wave.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact globally, with older people living in aged care homes suffering high death rates. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to compare the impact of initial government policies on this vulnerable older population between the UK and Australia during the first wave of attack. METHODS: We searched websites of governments in the UK and Australia and media outlets. We examined the key policies including the national lockdown dates and the distribution of some important resources (personal protective equipment and testing) and the effects of these initial policies on the mortality rates in the aged care homes during the first wave of attack of COVID-19. RESULTS: We found that both countries had prioritized resources to hospitals over aged care homes during the first wave of attack. Both countries had lower priority for aged care residents in hospitals (e.g. discharging without testing for COVID-19 or discouraging admissions). However, deaths in aged care homes were 270 times higher in the UK than in Australia as on 7 May 2020 (despite UK having a population only 2.5 times larger than Australia). The lower fatality rate in Australia may have been due to the earlier lockdown strategy when the total daily cases were low in Australia (118) compared to the UK (over 1000), as well as the better community viral testing regime in Australia. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the public health policy in Australia aimed towards earlier intervention with earlier national lockdown and more viral testing to prevent new cases. This primary prevention could have resulted in more lives being saved. In contrast, the initial policy in the UK focussed mainly on protecting resources for hospitals, and there was a delay in national lockdown intervention and lower viral testing rate, resulting in more lives lost in the aged care sector.

National Infection Control Program in Turkey: The healthcare associated infection rate experiences over 10 years.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of healthcare associated infection (HAI) is generally higher in countries with limited resources than developed countries. To address the high prevalence of HAI, Turkish Ministry of Health introduced a national infection control program in 2005. METHODS: Device associated (DA)-HAIs routinely surveyed included ventilator associated events, urinary catheter associated urinary tract infection and central line associated blood stream infection. Rates in DA-HAI were examined from 2008 to 2017 by type of hospitals, bed capacity, and geographic location of hospitals. RESULTS: All DA-HAIs declined significantly from 2008 to 2017 nationally for ventilator associated events from 16.69 to 4.86 per 1,000 device days (IRR = 0.29, P < .0001), catheter associated urinary tract infection from 4.98 to 1.59 per 1,000 catheter days (IRR = 0.31, P < .0001) and central line associated blood stream infection from 5.65 to 2.82 per 1,000 catheter days (IRR = 0.47, P < .0001). The rates for DA-HAIs declined significantly in hospitals with ≥200 beds and <200 bed capacity and in all 4 type of hospitals. By 2017 all DA-HAI had significantly improved across all regions. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of a new national surveillance system supported by a national infection control program has significantly reduced 3 major DA-HAIs that are associated with risk of treatment failure and death. The next critical step in sustaining this crucial improvement will require timely feedback to hospitals using technology and continued buy-in from clinicians for their commitment to safety associated with DA-HAIs using aspirational DA-HAI rates.

Multicultural presentation of chest pain at an emergency department in Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in presenting patient characteristics, investigation, management and related outcomes between culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and non-CALD chest pain (CP) patients presenting to the ED. METHODS: A cohort study of 258 patients was enrolled on presentation to Liverpool Hospital ED with a complaint of CP over a 2-week period. Main outcomes included frequency and timeliness of diagnostic and radiological investigations, medication administered and ED length of stay. Administrative and clinical data were extracted and linked from Cerner EMR FirstNet®, PowerChart® and paper records. RESULTS: There were 155 (60%) CALD and 103 (40%) non-CALD patients. CALD patients were older by 10 years (95% CI 4, 15; P < 0.0001). There were no significant differences in the number of pathology and imaging investigations carried out in each group, and similarly there were no significant differences in the number of patients administered analgesia or cardiac-specific medications. Neither group differed in their ED length of stay (median 280 vs 259.5 min; P = 0.79) or hospital admission rate (median 56% vs 55%, P = 0.8). CONCLUSION: Both CALD and non-CALD ED CP patients had similar test ordering, medication administration and clinical outcomes, but this was in the context of CALD patients being 10 years older together with a small study sample size. A larger cohort, matched for age, would provide further insights into potentially important differences.

Face touching in the time of COVID-19 in Shiraz, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Iranian were advice to wear a mask and not touch their face during COVID-19 restrictions in Iran. METHODS: One-thousand people were observed for 15-30 minutes in public places between April 22 and May 9, 2020. The average number of touches to the mucosal zone was calculated per hour and mask wearers (N = 568) were compared with those not wearing a mask (N = 432). FINDINGS: Ninety-two percent were observed touching their face at least once an hour and averaged 10 (SD 6) touches per hour. Nonmask wearers touched their face significantly more often than mask wearers (11 vs 8 times per hour, P < .001). Nonmask wearers were 1.5 (95%CI OR 1.2-2.0) times more likely to touch their mucosal zone than mask wearers (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Face touching is a common behavior and may have a role in COVID-19 transmission in the absence of hand hygiene. Mask use decrease the frequency of touching the mucosal zone.

Prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections in hemodialysis patients in Vietnam: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Chronic hemodialysis patients are at high risk of contracting hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) virus infections. In Vietnam, the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV infections is approximately 10 and 4%, respectively. Although the chronic hemodialysis population is increasing, relatively little epidemiology is available for HBV and HCV infections in this population. To address this, we reviewed the current literature on the magnitude of these infections in the hemodialysis population in Vietnam. METHODS: Four databases were used to search for publications containing the prevalence of HBV and/or HCV infections in hemodialysis patients in Vietnam. Grey literature search was utilized to identify local publications. Prevalence and 95% confidence interval were used or calculated, and a meta-analysis was conducted on HBV and HCV prevalence for comparison. RESULTS: Sixteen studies were included in the review. The search identified knowledge gaps in the current literature. Available data show that HBV and HCV infections remain prevalent in the hemodialysis population. HBV prevalence is not different between the north and the south of Vietnam. The pattern of HCV prevalence is different, with recent reports of lower prevalence in the south than in the north, while HCV prevalence varies between hemodialysis units in the same regions. CONCLUSIONS: A national prevalence survey of hemodialysis patients would improve the reliability and generalizability of the findings. However, the review confirmed that both HBV and HCV were prevalent in hemodialysis patients. The findings support a reinforcement of infection prevention to minimize the risk of HBV and HCV transmission in hemodialysis facilities.

Hand hygiene promotion delivered by change agents-Two attitudes, similar outcome.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of peer-identified change agents (PICAs) compared to management-selected change agents (MSCAs) on hand hygiene behavior in acute care. DESIGN: Randomized-controlled study. SETTING: Two internal medicine wards of a public, university-affiliated, tertiary-care hospital in Malaysia. METHODS: We randomly allocated 2 wards to hand hygiene promotion delivered either by PICAs (study arm 1) or by MSCAs (study arm 2). The primary outcome was hand hygiene compliance using direct observation by validated auditors. Secondary outcomes were hand hygiene knowledge and observations from ward tours. RESULTS: Mean hand hygiene compliance in study arm 1 and study arm 2 improved from 48% (95% confidence interval [CI], 44%-53%) and 50% (95% CI, 44%-55%) in the preintervention period to 66% (63%-69%) and 65% (60%-69%) in the intervention period, respectively. We detected no statistically significant difference in hand hygiene improvement between the 2 study arms. Knowledge scores on hand hygiene in study arm 1 and study arm 2 improved from 60% and 63% to 98% and 93%, respectively. Staff in study arm 1 improved hand hygiene because they did not want to disappoint the efforts taken by the PICAs. Staff in study arm 2 felt pressured by the MSCAs to comply with hand hygiene to obtain good overall performance appraisals. CONCLUSION: Although the attitude of PICAs and MSCAs in terms of leadership, mode of action and perception of their task by staff were very different, or even opposed, both PICAs and MSCAs effectively changed behavior of staff toward improved hand hygiene to comparable levels.

Estimating the extent of asymptomatic COVID-19 and its potential for community transmission: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Knowing the prevalence of true asymptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases is critical for designing mitigation measures against the pandemic. We aimed to synthesize all available research on asymptomatic cases and transmission rates. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane COVID-19 trials, and Europe PMC for primary studies on asymptomatic prevalence in which (1) the sample frame includes at-risk populations and (2) follow-up was sufficient to identify pre-symptomatic cases. Meta-analysis used fixed-effects and random-effects models. We assessed risk of bias by combination of questions adapted from risk of bias tools for prevalence and diagnostic accuracy studies. Results: We screened 2,454 articles and included 13 low risk-of-bias studies from seven countries that tested 21,708 at-risk people, of which 663 were positive and 111 asymptomatic. Diagnosis in all studies was confirmed using a real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test. The asymptomatic proportion ranged from 4% to 41%. Meta-analysis (fixed effects) found that the proportion of asymptomatic cases was 17% (95% CI 14% to 20%) overall and higher in aged care (20%; 95% CI 14% to 27%) than in non-aged care (16%; 95% CI 13% to 20%). The relative risk (RR) of asymptomatic transmission was 42% lower than that for symptomatic transmission (combined RR 0.58; 95% CI 0.34 to 0.99, p = 0.047). Conclusions: Our one-in-six estimate of the prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic transmission rates is lower than those of many highly publicized studies but still sufficient to warrant policy attention. Further robust epidemiological evidence is urgently needed, including in subpopulations such as children, to better understand how asymptomatic cases contribute to the pandemic.

Historique: Il est essentiel de connaître la prévalence des véritables cas asymptomatiques de maladie à coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pour concevoir des mesures d'atténuation de la pandémie. Les chercheurs ont voulu synthétiser toutes les recherches disponibles sur les cas asymptomatiques et les taux de transmission. Méthodologie: Les chercheurs ont fouillé les bases de données PubMed, Embase, Cochrane pour trouver les études sur la COVID-19, et Europe PMC pour colliger les études primaires sur la prévalence des cas asymptomatiques dans lesquelles 1) le cadre d'échantillonnage incluait une population à risque et 2) le suivi était suffisant pour dépister les cas présymptomatiques. La méta-analyse a fait appel à des modèles d'effets fixes et d'effets aléatoires. Nous avons évalué le risque de biais par une combinaison de questions adaptées d'outils sur les risques de biais des études de prévalence et de précision diagnostique. Résultats: Les chercheurs ont extrait 2 454 articles, dont 13 études à faible risque de biais de sept pays dans lesquelles 21 708 personnes à risque ont subi le test de dépistage, soit 663 cas positifs et 111 cas asymptomatiques. Dans toutes les études, le diagnostic a été confirmé au moyen du test d'amplification en chaîne par polymérase après transcriptase inverse en temps réel. La proportion de cas asymptomatiques se situait entre 4 % et 41 %. La méta-analyse (à effets fixes) a établi que la proportion de cas asymptomatiques s'élevait à 17 % (IC à 95 %, 14 % à 20 %) dans l'ensemble, mais qu'elles étaient plus élevées dans les soins aux aînés (20 %; IC à 95 %, 14 % à 27 %) qu'auprès du reste de la population (16 %; IC à 95 %, 13 % à 20 %). Le risque relatif [RR] de transmission de cas asymptomatiques était plus faible de 42 % que celui de cas symptomatiques (RR combiné de 0,58; IC à 95 %, 0,34 à 0.99, p = 0,047). Conclusions: L'évaluation de la prévalence d'un sixième de cas asymptomatiques de COVID-19 et de taux de transmission de cas asymptomatiques est inférieure à celle de nombreuses études hautement publicisées, mais suffit tout de même pour justifier l'intérêt de la santé publique. D'autres données épidémiologiques solides s'imposent de toute urgence, y compris dans des sous-populations comme les enfants, pour mieux comprendre l'effet des cas asymptomatiques sur la pandémie.

Hand hygiene - social network analysis of peer-identified and management-selected change agents.

Background: Hand hygiene compliance can be improved by strategies fostering collaborative efforts among healthcare workers (HCWs) through change agents. However, there is limited information about how change agents shape the social networks of work teams, and how this relates to organisational culture. The objectives of this study were to describe the influence of peer-identified change agents (PICAs) and management-selected change agents (MSCAs) on hand hygiene, perception of their leadership style by peers, and the role of the organisational culture in the process of hand hygiene promotion. Methods: This study, stratified in pre-, during, and post-intervention periods, was conducted between February 2017 and March 2018 in two wards at a tertiary care hospital in Malaysia. Hand hygiene promotion was facilitated either by PICAs (study arm 1) or MSCAs (study arm 2), and the two wards were randomly allocated to one of the two interventions. Outcomes were: 1) perceived leadership styles of PICAs and MSCAs by staff, vocalised during question and answer sessions; 2) the social network connectedness and communication patterns between HCWs and change agents by applying social network analysis; and 3) hand hygiene leadership attributes obtained from HCWs in the post-intervention period by questionnaires. Results: Hand hygiene compliance in study arm 1 and study arm 2 improved by from 48% (95% CI: 44-53%) to 66% (63-69%), and from 50% (44-55%) to 65% (60-69%), respectively. There was no significant difference between the two arms. Healthcare workers perceived that PICAs lead by example, while MSCAs applied an authoritarian top-down leadership style. The organisational culture of both wards was hierarchical, with little social interaction, but strong team cohesion. Position and networks of both PICAs and MSCAs were similar and generally weaker compared to the leaders who were nominated by HCWs in the post-intervention period. Healthcare workers on both wards perceived authoritative leadership to be the most desirable attribute for hand hygiene improvement. Conclusion: Despite experiencing successful hand hygiene improvement from PICAs, HCWs expressed a preference for the existing top-down leadership structure. This highlights the limits of applying leadership models that are not supported by the local organisational culture.

The association between child Schistosoma spp. infections and morbidity in an irrigated rice region in Mali: A localized study.

BACKGROUND: Schistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases endemic to Mali. There has been insufficient investigation of the morbidity burden in highly endemic irrigated rice areas with the ongoing mass drug administration with praziquantel. In February 2005, a year after an initial mass drug administration in 2004, we performed the first cross-sectional survey of schistosomiasis in the Kokry-Bozo village in the Office du Niger rice irrigation region. In the fourteen years since this survey, there has been almost no research into schistosomiasis morbidity in Mali due to lack of funding. Therefore, the 2005 survey supplies near-baseline data for any future research into the treatment impacts in the area. METHODS: One hundred and ninety-four children aged 6-14 years from two schools were assessed for bladder pathology by ultrasound, and for anaemia and micro-haematuria by laboratory tests. Schistosoma eggs were examined microscopically in fresh stool and urine samples. Multivariate logistic regression analysis quantified the association of Schistosoma infections with anaemia, bladder pathology and micro-haematuria. Akaike's information criterion was used to test the assumption of linear effects of infection intensity classes and used to compare across models. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of schistosomiasis in 189 school children was 97%; 17% (33/189) had a single infection (S. mansoni,13%, or S. haematobium, 4%) and 80% (156/189) were co-infected with S. mansoni and S. haematobium. The overall prevalence of S. mansoni with light infection was 27% (53/194), moderate infection was 24% (47/194) and heavy infection was 42% (81/194). Of the 194 of children investigated for S. haematobium 59% (114/194) had light infection and 26% (50/194) had heavy infection. No hookworm eggs were detected. The level of abnormal bladder pathology was 18% (35/189) with the highest found in 10-14 year old children. The prevalence of anaemia was 91% (172/189) and was twice as likely to be associated (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.9) with S. mansoni infections than in children without infection. As infection intensity with S. mansoni increased the risk of anaemia (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.9) also increased. As infection intensity with S. haematobium increased bladder pathology (OR 2.4, 95%CI 1.3-4.5), haematuria (OR 6.7, 95%CI 3.3-13.6) and micro-haematuria increased (OR 2.4, 95%CI 1.3-4.5). CONCLUSION: Our research contributes an important micro-geographical assessment of the heavy burden of schistosomiasis and associated morbidity in children who live in the rice irrigation regions. Our literature review found that there has been very limited research conducted on the impact of the treatment to control morbidity in the ON. Therefore, there is a need to do a comparable, but more extensive, study to identify any changes in morbidity and to indicate current requirements for the control programme. Our results from 2005 called for routine integration of iron supplementation, food fortification and diet diversification into the deworming program.

Diagnosis and drug resistance of human soil-transmitted helminth infections: A public health perspective.

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections represent a major public health problem globally, particularly among socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Detection of STH infections is often challenging, requiring a combination of diagnostic techniques to achieve acceptable sensitivity and specificity, particularly in low infection-intensity situations. The microscopy-based Kato-Katz remains the most widely used method but has low sensitivity in the detection of, for instance, Strongyloides spp. infections, among others. Antigen/antibody assays can be more sensitive but are parasite species-specific. Highly sensitive PCR methods have been developed to be multiplexed to allow multi-species detection. Novel diagnostic tests for all STH species are needed for effective monitoring, evaluation of chemotherapy programmes, and to assess the potential emergence of parasite resistance. This review discusses available diagnostic methods for the different stages of STH control programmes, which vary in sensitivity and spectrum of detection requirements, and tools to evaluate drug efficacy and resistance.

Modified glove use for contact precautions: Health care workers' perceptions and acceptance.

BACKGROUND: Patients colonized or infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus are placed under contact precautions. Contact precautions require patients to be placed in single rooms and their health care workers (HCWs) to wear gowns, aprons and gloves on entry and doffing on exit. Glove use is widely accepted to be associated with poor hand hygiene compliance. We trailed the removal of gloves for contact precautions for contacts not expected to involve body fluids to improve hand hygiene between multiple contacts of the patient and patient zone. METHODS: We have conducted a 5 phase study of the removal of gloves for contacts without body fluids in 250 HCWs using pretrial focus groups (N = 12), hand microbiology (N = 40) (reported elsewhere), development of a modified contact precautions poster, trial of modified poster (n = 100), posttrial focus group discussion (n = 22), and a survey of HCWs postrollout in additional locations (n = 76). RESULTS: Pretrial focus groups identified 4 themes, and the leading theme identified as the facilitator for glove use as self-protection. HCWs viewed current contact precaution guidelines as preventing them from making their own judgement regarding the need for gloving for patient contacts, leading continuous glove use without changing gloves between multiple contacts. Participants believed that the trial empowered them to make their own clinical judgment for gloves and to consciously use hand hygiene between dry (no body fluid) contacts. Four themes were discussed during the posttrial focus groups and although self-protection remained the central theme, hand hygiene replaced glove use. Participants spoke of an appreciation of and increased trust in hand hygiene during nonglove use for dry contacts. The survey responses from additional sites were mostly positive for the safety of nonglove use for dry contacts, it improved hand hygiene and that the adoption of the modified guidelines was empowering. CONCLUSIONS: The trial of nonglove use for expected dry contact, while caring for patients under contact precautions for methicillin-resistant S aureus and or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, was successful in refocusing HCWs reliance on hand hygiene for self-protection. Mandatory glove use for contact precautions was believed to contribute to their failure to change gloves between procedures on the same patient and patient zone, with HCWs now recognizing multiple contacts with the same gloves as a risk for contamination.

ASID/ACIPC position statement - Infection control for patients with Clostridium difficile infection in healthcare facilities.

BACKGROUND: In 2011, the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) and the Australian Infection Control Association (AICA), now known as the Australasian College of Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC), produced a position statement on infection control requirements for preventing and controlling Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in healthcare settings. METHODS: The statement updated in 2017 to reflect new literature available .The authors reviewed the 2011 position statement and critically appraised new literature published between 2011 and 2017 and relevant current infection control guidelines to identify where new evidence had become available or best practice had changed. RESULTS: The position statement was updated incorporating the new findings. A draft version of the updated position statement was circulated for consultation to members of ASID and ACIPC. The authors responded to all comments received and updated the position statement. CONCLUSIONS: This updated position statement emphasizes the importance of health service organizations having evidence-based infection prevention and control programs and comprehensive antimicrobial stewardship programs, to ensure the risk of C. difficile acquisition, transmission and infection is minimised.