Weekly Digest: CDC urges infection control collaboration; Legionnaires’ outbreak in NYC

In this month’s Vital Signs, the CDC estimates that coordination between health facilities could save 37,000 lives from drug-resistant infections over five years, a much larger effect than can be achieved by isolated efforts.  An analysis published along with the report found that 19,000 cases of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) could be averted with a well-funded, coordinated approach for limiting infections transferred between institutions. CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan, who coauthored a 2005 study on coordinated approaches to limiting infections in hospital transfers, offered comments on the recent study in a post on the CDDEP blog. Writes Laxminarayan, “[i]t doesn’t take new drugs or millions of dollars in research and development to limit these infections: Shared information and proper surveillance can limit infections and save lives, especially when paired with infection control measures and antibiotic stewardship.” [CDC, PNAS, CDDEP]

One hundred people have contracted Legionnaires’ Disease in New York City and ten of them have died. Officials believe the patients contracted the infection from a contaminated air-conditioning cooling tower in the South Bronx. City health officials also stated that they believe the outbreak is slowing, though The New York Times reported this week that the city has known about problems with several cooling towers for years but has done little to address the problem. [Reuters, The New York Times]

Major U.S. chicken manufacturer Perdue Farms announced this week that more than half of its currently available chicken products have received “no antibiotics ever.” Perdue distinguishes its antibiotic practices—which do not include the use of ionophores, antibiotics used exclusively for animals—from those of some of its competitors, such as Tyson and Foster Farms, which do use them. Perdue sells these chickens, which meet federal requirements for “antibiotic-free” labeling, under the Harvestland label. [The New York Times]

The newest proposed tool in the fight against malaria? Mosquito-eating spiders. Two species of mosquito-eating spiders, found exclusively in East Africa, hunt female Anopheles mosquitoes (which carry and transmit malaria) that have fed on human blood. Though they are harmless to humans, one of the two species tends to live near or in human dwellings, and researchers hope they can be pressed into service as another tool in malaria control. [The Guardian, Journal of Arachnology]

Significant weight loss following bariatric surgery may be partially due to changes in the gut microbiome of surgery patients—not all due to the surgery itself. A study published in Cell Metabolism detailed researchers’ findings that nine years after bariatric surgery, obese women who had undergone the surgery had long-lasting changes in their gut microbiota compared with a control group. When bacteria from those who had undergone surgery were transplanted into mice, the mice amassed significantly less fat than those getting bacteria from the non-surgery group.  [Science News, Cell Metabolism]

A study has confirmed what many suspected about U.S. state vaccine exemption laws: States with more permissive vaccine exemption rules have higher rates of some vaccine-preventable illnesses. The research, published in Health Affairs, examined rates of whooping cough, and found higher rates in states that allowed philosophical vaccine exemptions and used a standardized vaccination form. Another study published this week found that one of the most effective methods for convincing vaccine skeptics is a straightforward one: focusing discussion on the risks associated with vaccine-preventable diseases, rather than discussion about vaccine side effects, convinced more skeptical individuals to consider vaccinating their children. [Health Affairs, PNAS]

Bacteria can survive on endoscopes even after recommended multi-step disinfection processes. Viable bacteria remained on gastrointestinal endoscopes—instruments that were the source of a Los Angeles CRE outbreak last winter—after each step of a standard disinfection process, report researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The disinfection steps included bedside cleaning, manual cleaning in dedicated reprocessing rooms, and automated endoscope reprocessing with a high-level disinfectant. The authors of the study recommend research to develop better cleaning methods. [American Journal of Infection Control]

Rapid diagnostic testing (RDT) for malaria in Uganda could significantly reduce overprescription of antimalarials, according to research published in PLOS ONE. In a randomized trial in Uganda, all patients in 10 areas were given the option of testing with a malaria RDT; 98 percent purchased the diagnostic, and only those with a positive result were treated for malaria. In the other ten areas, no diagnostic was used. The proportion of patients who received appropriate treatment in the RDT arm was 73 percent, versus 34 percent in the control arm. [PLOS ONE]

Some types of bacteria may become more virulent and less susceptible to antibiotics in space. Research on bacterial changes conducted on the International Space Station found that certain bacterial strains became less susceptible to antibiotics—the only bacterial treatment brought onboard—and potentially more virulent. These changes, when combined with frequently compromised human immune systems in space, indicate that bacterial infections could pose an added challenge for future human spaceflight. [Dove Press]