Update: Briefing on ESBLs, CPEs, & other antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria

We originally wrote this post in 2015 as a briefing on various antibiotic resistant bacteria. It’s one of the most popular articles on the blog, so time for an update! Read on to discover more about “antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria” and why resistant Enterobacterales are a real cause for concern. What are “antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria”? There…

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Disinfectant wipes mop the floor with chlorine solution

There are few well-controlled studies investigating the impact of disinfectant wipes in a clinical setting compared with standard methods. A study from a group of researchers in Cardiff shows that one-step cleaning and disinfectant wipes are more effective than two-step detergent and chlorine solution cleaning / disinfection in removing microbial contamination from hospital surfaces. What was the…

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Updates on chlorhexidine from ECCMID 2017

A number of key studies were published at ECCMID 2017, providing further evidence of the utility of chlorhexidine for reducing the risk of HCAI. A study from South Korea evaluated the impact of universal skin antisepsis using 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) washcloths in reducing MRSA acquisitions and bloodstream infections. Following a 12 month baseline period, a two-year…

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Evidence of source control for XDR Acinetobacter outbreak management grows

There is a steadily growing body of evidence that chlorhexidine washcloths can be effective in controlling multi-resistant Gram-negatives. Hot on the heels of a paper that demonstrated the effectiveness of the in controlling spread of Acinetobacter in a critical care unit1 comes a further paper relating to a hospital-wide outbreak of multi-resistant Acinetobacter. A new paper2 from Gray…

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Chlorhexidine vs. CRE

If you were to put chlorhexidine and CRE in the ring, who would win? On the face of it, you’d back CRE. Afterall, it’s carried in the gut; applying chlorhexidine to the skin won’t have a hope of decolonising the gut. True, but what is the mechanism of transmission of a gut-dwelling organism?Probably, contamination is…

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Reflections from ECCMID 2015

This year’s ECCMID meeting in Copenhagen was universally accepted to be the first one with a significant infection prevention and control component, although it would be fair so say that the sessions were not the best attended, meaning that levels of interest in infection control in the majority of the infectious disease physicians attending still…

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