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Portable medical equipment (PME) may contribute to transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms without proper disinfection. We studied whether a Disinfection Tracking System (DTS) with feedback prompt, attached to PME, can increase the frequency of PME disinfection.DTS devices were placed on 10 workstations-on-wheels (WOWs) and 5 vitals machine (VM). After a 25 day "screen-off" period, the DTS device screens were turned on to display the number of hours since the last recorded disinfection event for a 42 day period. We used a Bayesian multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial model to compare the number of events in the display "screen-off" to the "screen-on" period.During the "screen-off" period, there were 1.26 and 0.49 mean disinfection events and during the "screen-on" period, there were 1.76 and 0.50 mean disinfection events for WOWs and VM, respectively, per day. The model estimated mean events per device per day in the the "screen-on" period for WOW's were 1.32 (1.10 - 1.57) times greater than those in the "screen-off" period and the "screen-on" period for VM devices was 1.37 (0.89 - 2.01) times greater than those in the "screen-off" period.The rate of disinfection events for WOWs increased following the implementation of the DTS feedback prompt.

Background Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) is one of the most common causes of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), leading to increased hospital stay, cost, and mortality. Elimination of C. diff spores is difficult as they are resistant to kill by common hospital grade disinfectants. Copper impregnated self-sanitizing surfaces (SSSCu) provide continuous reduction of vegetative pathogens, potentially lowering the risk of infections, but their efficacy on C. diff spores has not been previously evaluated. Methods Control (no copper) and copper coupons containing 20% copper-oxide were inoculated with varying C. diff spore loads ranging from 105 to 107 spores, prepared using environmental protection agency protocol, with or without 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) soil load. After 4 hours of contact time, the C. diff spores were recovered and tested for viability. The efficacy of copper (log10 kill) was estimated using a Bayesian linear multilevel model. Results After 4 hours, the copper coupons, at mean initial spore load (6.67 log10) and no soil load, had a mean 1.21 (95% uncertainty interval: 1.13 - 1.31) log10 reduction compared to control coupons. With soil load, the treatment effect of copper decreased by 0.50 (95% uncertainty interval: 0.37 - 0.64) log10. Also, for each additional standard deviation (SD) increase in initial spore load there was a 0.59 (95% uncertainty interval: 0.47 - 0.72) log10 decrease in the treatment effect of copper. The soil load in combination with increasing initial spore load further decreased the treatment effect of copper by an additional 0.19 (95% uncertainty interval: 0.01 - 0.38) log10 for each SD increase in initial spore load. Conclusion Copper coupons can substantially reduce C. diff spores after 4 hours by 50%-97% depending on the initial spore concentration and presence or absence of organic material. Higher initial spore loads or excess organic material may prevent the spores from coming in contact with the copper-impregnated surface thus decreasing the kill efficacy. Continuous sporicidal effect of copper-impregnated surfaces might prevent transmission of spores and help reduce HAIs. Further studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy on C. diff HAI rates. Disclosures Piyali Chatterjee, PhD, AHRQ Grant # 1R03HS027667-01: Grant/Research Support|AHRQ Grant # 1R03HS027667-01: Central Texas Veterans Health Care System Chetan Jinadatha, MD, MPH, AHRQ R01 Grant-5R01HS025598: Grant/Research Support|EOS Surfaces: Copper Coupons and materials for testing.

Background:Infants asymptomatically excrete Clostridioides difficile during their first year of life, suggesting that they may represent a source of infection for adults who acquire community-associated C. difficile infection (CA-CDI). The genetic relationship of C. difficile strains from asymptomatic infants and adults with CA-CDI is not well defined.Methods:In this study, 50 infants were recruited at birth, and stool samples were collected at routine well-child visits. Adult stool samples collected during the same period and geographical area from patients who were diagnosed with CA-CDI were selected for comparison. C. difficile was cultivated and probed by PCR for toxin genes and were typed by PCR fluorescent ribotyping. Isolates from adults and infants with shared ribotypes were subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS).Results:Of these 50 infants, 36 were positive for C. difficile at least once in their first year of life, with a peak incidence at 6 months. Among 180 infant stool samples, 48 were positive. Of 48 isolates from positive stools, 29 were toxigenic by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and 8 of 48 stool samples were positive for toxin by enzyme immunoassays (EIAs). Ribotypes F106 and F014-020 were present in both colonized infants and adults with CA-CDI. WGS identified 1 adult–infant pair that differed by 5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Also, 4 additional adult–infant clusters differed by ≤16 SNPs.Conclusions:Infants that are colonized with C. difficile share ribotypes with adults from the same geographical region with CA-CDI. Selected isolates in the 2 populations show a genetic relationship by WGS.

Background:Candida auris is an emerging and often multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen with an exceptional ability to persist on hospital surfaces. These surfaces can act as a potential source of transmission. Therefore, effective disinfection strategies are urgently needed. We investigated the efficacy of ultraviolet C light (UV-C) disinfection for C. auris isolates belonging to 4 different clades.Methods:In vitro testing of C. auris isolates was conducted using 106 colony-forming units (CFU) spread on 20-mm diameter steel carriers and exposed to a broad-spectrum UV-C light source for 10, 20, and 30 minutes at a 1.5 m (5 feet) distance. Post-UV survivors on the coupons were subsequently plated. Colony counts and log reductions were recorded, calculated, and compared to untreated control carriers. Identification of all isolates were confirmed by MALDI-TOF and morphology was visualized by microscopy.Results:We observed an increased susceptibility of C. auris to UV-C in 8 isolates belonging to clades I, II and IV with increasing UV exposure time. The range of log kill (0.8–1.19) was highest for these isolates at 30 minutes. But relatively no change in log kill (0.04–0.35) with increasing time in isolates belonging to clade III were noted. Interestingly, C. auris isolates susceptible to UV-C were mostly nonaggregating, but the isolates that were more resistant to UV exposure formed aggregates.Conclusions:Our study suggests variability in susceptibility to UV-C of C. auris isolates belonging to different clades. More studies are needed to assess whether a cumulative impact of prolonged UV-C exposure provides additional benefit.

Background Klebsiella pneumoniae is among the leading causes of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella variants are difficult to treat and have been reported with increasing frequency in hospitals. Whole genome multi-locus sequence typing (wg-MLST) of K. pneumoniae HAI isolates was used to compare antibiotic resistance genetic patterns against epidemiologic typing. Figure 1. Prevalence of ABX resistance genes for each drug class. Figure 2. Prevalence of ABX resistance genes by hospital. Methods Forty-six clinical bacterial HAI isolates were collected from patients admitted to two disparate tertiary care hospitals in Detroit, Michigan between 2017 and 2019. Data output from wg-MLST was de novo assembled using SPAdes (version 3.7.1) assembler on the Bionumerics calculation engine. Minimum spanning tree (MST) analysis categorized isolates into unique MLST Pasteur serotypes (ST). Antimicrobial resistance genes and/or chromosomal mutations were identified using the ResFinder Database (version 3.2). K. pneumoniae isolates were compared for antibiotic-resistance patterns by hospital, unit, and ST. Figure 3. Hospital 1 clusters and strains that detected gene qnr1, arranged by unit for visual comparison. Figure 4. Sample of clinically significant genes and prevalence, excluding SHV family of genes for simplicity. Results There was significant genetic diversity among the isolates, and no predominant strain was identified. MST analysis revealed 17 unique strains. Only six strains had genetically unique resistance genes detected in more than one isolate, and only three of six were hospital-specific; none were unit-specific. Out of the 75 unique resistance genes detected, only 8 genes had a prevalence >50%: oqxA (100%), oqxB (100%), fosA (89%), blaCTX-M-15 (76%), aac(6’)-Ib-cr (61%), blaTEM-1B (52%), blaOXA-1 (52%), and catB3 (52%). No colistin resistance genes were detected. Of the remaining 69 low-prevalence resistance genes, only 8 hospital-specific genes were detected in more than one isolate (qnrB1, blaSHV-1, blaSHV-110, ac(6’)-Ib3, blaCTX-M-3, blaSHV-36, blaSHV-80, blaSHV-178) with a prevalence range of 4%-22%. Conclusion Our genetic analysis of antibiotic resistance patterns and wg-MLST revealed significant heterogeneity among the isolates, indicating no common source of transmission for either hospital. Although K. pneumoniae is a very common nosocomial pathogen, etiologic analysis suggests diverse community strains (e.g., gut colonization) may actually be responsible for previously-designated HAI. Disclosures Chetan Jinadatha, MD, MPH, AHRQ (Research Grant or Support)Department of Veterans Affairs (Other Financial or Material Support, Owner: Department of Veterans Affairs. Licensed to: Xenex Disinfection System, San Antonio, TX)Inventor (Other Financial or Material Support, Methods for organizing the disinfection of one or more items contaminated with biological agents)NiH/NINR (Research Grant or Support)NSF (Research Grant or Support)Xenex Healthcare Services (Research Grant or Support) Mark Stibich, PhD MHS, Xenex Disinfection Services, Inc (Board Member, Employee)

Infants asymptomatically excrete Clostridioides difficile during their first year of life, suggesting that they may represent a source of infection for adults who acquire community-associated C. difficile infection (CA-CDI). The genetic relationship of C. difficile strains from asymptomatic infants and adults with CA-CDI is not well defined.In this study, 50 infants were recruited at birth, and stool samples were collected at routine well-child visits. Adult stool samples collected during the same period and geographical area from patients who were diagnosed with CA-CDI were selected for comparison. C. difficile was cultivated and probed by PCR for toxin genes and were typed by PCR fluorescent ribotyping. Isolates from adults and infants with shared ribotypes were subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS).Of these 50 infants, 36 were positive for C. difficile at least once in their first year of life, with a peak incidence at 6 months. Among 180 infant stool samples, 48 were positive. Of 48 isolates from positive stools, 29 were toxigenic by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and 8 of 48 stool samples were positive for toxin by enzyme immunoassays (EIAs). Ribotypes F106 and F014-020 were present in both colonized infants and adults with CA-CDI. WGS identified 1 adult-infant pair that differed by 5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Also, 4 additional adult-infant clusters differed by ≤16 SNPs.Infants that are colonized with C. difficile share ribotypes with adults from the same geographical region with CA-CDI. Selected isolates in the 2 populations show a genetic relationship by WGS.

BackgroundMicrobial bio-burden on high-touch surfaces in patient rooms may lead to acquisition of health care–associated infections in acute care hospitals. This study examined the effect of a novel copper-impregnated solid material (16%–20% copper oxide in a polymer-based resin) on bacterial contamination on high-touch surfaces in patient rooms in an acute care hospital.MethodsFive high-touch surfaces were sampled for aerobic bacterial colonies (ABCs) 3 times per day over a 3-day period in 16 rooms with copper installed and 16 rooms with standard noncopper laminate installed on high-touch surfaces. A Bayesian multilevel negative binomial regression model was used to compare ABC plate counts from copper-impregnated surfaces with standard hospital laminate surfaces.ResultsThe mean and median (interquartile range [IQR]) ABC counts from copper-impregnated surfaces were 25.5 and 11 (4–27), and for standard hospital laminate surfaces they were 60.5 and 29 (10–74.3). The negative binomial regression model–estimated incidence rate for ABC counts on plates taken from copper-impregnated surfaces was 0.40 (0.21–0.70) times the incidence rate of ABC counts on plates taken from standard hospital laminate surfaces.ConclusionsCopper-impregnated solid surfaces may reduce the level of microbial contamination on high-touch surfaces in patient rooms in the acute care environment, as our study demonstrated a decline in microbial bio-burden on samples taken from copper-impregnated compared with standard hospital laminate high-touch surfaces.

Achromobacter xylosoxidans strain DN2019 was isolated from blood of a septicemia patient. We describe the draft genome and antibiotic susceptibility of this strain.

Background Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) caused by Acinetobacter baumannii, an opportunistic gram-negative pathogen, often contribute to morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. To determine molecular epidemiology of circulating hospital Acinetobacter strains in Detroit area in a non-outbreak situation, we performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) and whole genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST) analysis to characterize genomic diversity. Methods We performed WGS on patient isolates from two disparate, geographically distinct tertiary care Detroit hospitals admitted to 16 intensive care units (ICU) and non-ICU wards between 2017-2019. The samples were obtained 48 hours following admission and WGS was performed using the Illumina NextSeq instrument. The contigs were de novo assembled using SPAdes and WgMLST analysis was performed using BioNumerics software v7.6. Minimum spanning tree (MST) was constructed to demonstrate the clusters in each hospital and their wards. Results WgMLST analysis was performed on a total of 62 Acinetobacter baumannii patient isolates, 33 of which were from hospital # 1 (H1) and 29 were from hospital # 2 (H2). ST2 (52%) was the predominant sequence type for both hospitals. In addition to ST2, ST93 (8%) and ST406 (8%) clusters were also found in H1. Most of the isolates were predominantly clustered in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Several identical sequence types of ST93 (2 identical in H1), ST36 (2 identical in H1) and ST2 (5 identical for H1 and 2 identical for H2) were also observed from different patients in both hospitals. Unlike H1, H2 only has ST2 as a predominant cluster. Other sporadic sequence types such as ST119, ST36, ST49, ST212, ST667 for H1 and ST395, ST214, ST427 and ST268 for H2 were also observed. Figure 1. MInimum Spanning Tree of Acinetobacter strains in hospitals (H1 and H2) and different wards (U1-U12). For identical strains circles are marked with dividing lines. Different sequence types (STs) are marked om the side bar. Conclusion Our data suggests that ST2 is the predominant sequence type circulating in both the geographically distinct hospitals and is endemic to the ICU. There was in hospital spread of this distinct Acinetobacter sequence type from one patient to the other, raising concerns about infection control practices and the role of environment in the spread of these infections. Early detection of these endemic strains within the hospital may be critical in preventing healthcare-associated infections in the future. Disclosures Chetan Jinadatha, MD, MPH, AHRQ (Research Grant or Support)Department of Veterans Affairs (Other Financial or Material Support, Owner: Department of Veterans Affairs. Licensed to: Xenex Disinfection System, San Antonio, TX)Inventor (Other Financial or Material Support, Methods for organizing the disinfection of one or more items contaminated with biological agents)NiH/NINR (Research Grant or Support)NSF (Research Grant or Support)Xenex Healthcare Services (Research Grant or Support) Mark Stibich, PhD MHS, Xenex Disinfection Services, Inc (Board Member, Employee)

Background Portable Medical Equipment (PME) can play a vital role in transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms. Cleaning PME is challenging and protocols vary by institution. Tracking of PME cleaning events is usually performed manually and demonstration of compliance with protocols is difficult. We studied a Disinfection Tracking Systems (DTS) to understand its potential role in tracking disinfection events of PME and whether its implementation led to improvement in the number of cleaning events. The DTS device was designed to automatically register several types of disinfection events and could be set to display time since last disinfected on the screen. Methods For a 25-day period, a single acute care unit received a DTS device with the display screen off but with the ability to detect and log disinfection events in a database from a disinfectant wipe. After the 25-day screen-off period the DTS units screen was turned on to display the number of hours since the last recorded disinfection event (Figure 1) for a 42-day period. DTS devices were placed on 10 computer-on-wheels (COW) and 5 vitals machine (VM). An interrupted time series analysis, using a Bayesian model compared the number of events in the display screen-off to the screen-on period. Disinfection Tracking System with Screen-off and Screen-on Results During the 25-day screen-off period, there were a total of 345 events captured with 61 events on VM and 284 on COWs averaging 0.49 and 1.26 cleaning events for VM and COWs respectively per day. During the 42-day screen-on period, there were 845 total disinfection events with 104 events on VM and 741 events on COWs with 0.50 and 1.76 mean events for VM and COWs respectively per day. The mean events per device per day in the screen-on period for COW’s were 1.32 (1.10 – 1.57) times greater than those in the screen-off Period. The mean events per device per day in the screen-on period for VM devices was 1.37 (0.89 – 2.01) times greater than those in the screen-off period. Conclusion Disinfection events for COWs and VMs were found to be above the local policy requirements. Implementation of a DTS device was able to increase the rate of disinfection events for COWs potentially due to the prompt on the screen. Additionally, it captured disinfection events successfully on the database demonstrating its effective to be a tool for demonstration of compliance. Disclosures Mark Stibich, PhD MHS, Xenex Disinfection Services, Inc (Board Member, Employee) Sarah Simmons, DrPH, Xenex Disinfection Services (Employee, Shareholder) Chetan Jinadatha, MD, MPH, AHRQ (Research Grant or Support)Department of Veterans Affairs (Other Financial or Material Support, Owner: Department of Veterans Affairs. Licensed to: Xenex Disinfection System, San Antonio, TX)Inventor (Other Financial or Material Support, Methods for organizing the disinfection of one or more items contaminated with biological agents)NiH/NINR (Research Grant or Support)NSF (Research Grant or Support)Xenex Healthcare Services (Research Grant or Support)

Background Acinetobacter is known to quickly develop resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Previously we performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) and whole genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST) analysis in clinical Acinetobacter isolates to determine sequence types (ST) of these isolates and mapped their distribution. In this study, we sought to characterize the genetic antibiotic resistance patterns in these isolates. Methods Sixty-two clinical Acinetobacter isolates collected in two distinct large tertiary care hospitals in Detroit were analyzed. The samples were subjected to WGS using the NextSeq instrument (Illumina). The contigs were de novo assembled using SPAdes (v3.7.1) and wgMLST analysis was performed using BioNumerics software v7.6. The genomic sequence for each isolate was uploaded in ResFinder 3.2 and known antibiotic resistance genes were analyzed. Results The most common resistance gene found is blaADC-25 conferring resistance to beta-lactams across all STs. Sulfonamide (sul1) and macrolide resistance (mphE/msrE) among STs were also common. ST2 (52%) was predominant for both hospitals (H1 and H2). ST2 in H2 exhibited the presence of the maximum number of resistance genes including resistance to aminoglycosides, macrolides (2), tetracyclines (tetB), beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones (aac(6’)-Ib-cr), sulphonamides (sul1, sul2). ST2 had a slightly different resistance profile of beta-lactams in H1 when compared to H2. ST406 and ST15 exhibited similar antibiotic profiles in both hospitals and a single isolate of ST20 from H2 is highly antibiotic resistant. Table 1. Antimicrobial Drug Resistance Profiles of all Acinetobacter Sequence Types (STs) in H1 and H2. Table 2. Antibiotic Resistance Gene Profiles of Sequence Type 2 (ST2) isolates in H1 and H2. Conclusion This study provides us with a snapshot of antibiotic resistant genes among circulating Acinetobacter isolates prevalent in an area. All hospital isolates demonstrated resistance to beta-lactams. Multidrug resistant ST2 isolates from both hospitals demonstrate similar antibiotic resistance gene profiles suggesting a common circulating strain in the area. No colistin resistance genes were detected in any isolates. Because Acinetobacter infections are predominantly hospital acquired, it is important to continually monitor resistance profiles to determine the trends that may better serve both the patients and infection control practices. Disclosures Chetan Jinadatha, MD, MPH, AHRQ (Research Grant or Support)Department of Veterans Affairs (Other Financial or Material Support, Owner: Department of Veterans Affairs. Licensed to: Xenex Disinfection System, San Antonio, TX)Inventor (Other Financial or Material Support, Methods for organizing the disinfection of one or more items contaminated with biological agents)NiH/NINR (Research Grant or Support)NSF (Research Grant or Support)Xenex Healthcare Services (Research Grant or Support)

Background Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the leading causes of healthcare-associated infections. Treatment of Klebsiella pneumonia is difficult due to the antibiotic resistance and high survival on environmental surfaces. Whole genome sequencing analysis of Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates were performed to study the transmission of Klebsiella pneumonia in hospital settings. Figure 1. Minimum spanning tree (MST) of wgMLST profiles of Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence types found in the two hospitals. Branch lengths reflect the number of allele differences between the isolates in the connected nodes Figure 2. Minimum spanning tree (MST) of wgMLST profiles of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates. Node labels indicate patients’ hospital unit. Methods Clinical bacterial isolates from patients admitted to two disparate, geographically distinct tertiary care hospitals (H1, H2) in Detroit, Michigan, after 48 hours of admission from 2017- 2019 were collected and sequenced. Whole genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST) analysis was performed using Illumina NextSeq platform. De novo assembly of the contigs was performed using SPAdes assembler. WgMLST (assembly-free and assembly-based calls) was performed using calculation engine on the Bionumerics v7.6 platform. Minimum spanning tree with the isolates was constructed and arranged by their MLST Pasteur serotype and hospital/ward of the patient isolate collection. Results Total 17 different MLST Pasteur serotypes were observed from WgMLST analyzation of forty-five Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical patient isolates. All the Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates of HAI obtained from two hospitals were genetically distinct. As shown in Figure 1, there were three distinct clusters on the minimum spanning tree. Out of 17 STs, 4 were present in both hospitals. Though there was no predominant ST type, ST15 and ST11 were the most frequent isotypes (18% each). Both ST15 and ST11 were evenly spread across both hospitals, but the pattern was different. While ST15 was predominantly found in two units (H1U3 and H2U4), ST11 was found in multiple units. ST348 and ST29 were predominantly found in H1, whereas ST16 was found in H2. Conclusion Majority of Klebsiella pneumoniae infection is sporadic and there was no evidence of hospital spread. The WgMLST analysis showed the isolates distributed across the phylogeny of Klebsiella with diverse serotypes from the three main diverse evolutionary origin. Our study showed that the global spread of various serotypes of Klebsiella pneumoniae has already reached a significant level in these two Detroit hospitals possibly the catchment area. Disclosures Chetan Jinadatha, MD, MPH, AHRQ (Research Grant or Support)Department of Veterans Affairs (Other Financial or Material Support, Owner: Department of Veterans Affairs. Licensed to: Xenex Disinfection System, San Antonio, TX)Inventor (Other Financial or Material Support, Methods for organizing the disinfection of one or more items contaminated with biological agents)NiH/NINR (Research Grant or Support)NSF (Research Grant or Support)Xenex Healthcare Services (Research Grant or Support) Mark Stibich, PhD MHS, Xenex Disinfection Services, Inc (Board Member, Employee)