Performance of an Autonomous Sanitary Sterilisation Ultraviolet Machine (ASSUM) on terminal disinfection of surgical theaters and rooms of an intensive-intermediate care unit.

Background: Ultraviolet- C (UV-C) light is effective for reducing environmental bioburden in hospitals, and the use of robots to deliver it may be advantageous.

Aim: To evaluate the feasibility and clinical efficacy of an autonomous programmable UV-C robot in surgical and intensive care unit (ICU) rooms of a tertiary hospital.

Method: During ten consecutive months, the device was used in six theatres where cardiac, colorectal and orthopaedic surgeries were performed, and in the rooms previously occupied by patients subjected to contact precautions of a 14-bed ICU.

Early identification of the nosocomial spread of vancomycin-resistant by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and performance comparison with PFGE and WGS.

Early detection of disseminating vancomycin-resistant (VREfm) in ICU wards is crucial for outbreak identification and the implementation of prompt infection control measures. Genotypic methods like pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) are costly and time-consuming, hindering rapid response due to batch dependency. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) offers the potential for real-time outbreak detection and reliable strain typing.

Carriage of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli: duration and risk factors.

Identification of risk factors influencing the duration of carriage of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (MDR-GNB) may be useful for infection control. The aim of this study is to estimate the impact of several factors collected for routine hospital surveillance on the duration of carriage of selected MDR-GNB. From January 2015 to July 2021, patients with at least two clinical/surveillance samples positive for MDR-GNB different from ESBL-producing E.