Guidance on preventing transmission of highly resistant infections has been published to mark Antibiotic Awareness Week.
BRC-supported researcher Professor Peter Wilson is lead author of the guidelines, produced by the Joint Healthcare Infection Society and British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Working Party. The guidelines, which have been accredited by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, describe measures for preventing transmission of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB). MDR-GNB are bacteria resistant to at least three different antibiotics.
MDR-GNB have built-in abilities to find new ways to be drug resistant and can pass along genetic materials that allow other bacteria to become drug-resistant as well. The guidelines are focused on what healthcare workers in acute and primary healthcare premises can do.
Recommendations include advice on environmental decontamination and use of bleach for terminal disinfection.
Professor Wilson and his colleagues also advise on active surveillance in high risk units. This includes screening patients for MDR-GNB and isolating those found to be positive.
Professor Wilson said: “The greatest forthcoming threat to treatment of infections in UK as with many other countries are MDR-GNB that are resistant to all standard antibiotics. These organisms are already out of control in Greece and Italy. However, the progress of these organisms can be delayed by ensuring hospitals and residential care homes adopt appropriate infection control practices to prevent spread between patients.”
MDR-GNB are commonly found in the gut, where they do no harm; however, they can cause infection at other body sites, mainly in patients who are vulnerable. Infections caused by MDR-GNB are difficult to treat and can cause additional pain to patients with slow wound healing and other complications such as pneumonia or infection in the blood.
The guidelines, published in The Journal of Hospital Infection, do not cover the treatment of MDR-GNB.
To read Prevention and control of multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria: recommendations from a Joint Working Party (£) in full click here.
