Regional Spread of an Outbreak of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Through an Ego Network of Healthcare Facilities.

Background: In 2013, New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM)-producing Escherichia coli, a type of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae uncommon in the United States, was identified in a tertiary care hospital (hospital A) in northeastern Illinois. The outbreak was traced to a contaminated duodenoscope. Patient-sharing patterns can be described through social network analysis and ego networks, which could be used to identify hospitals most likely to accept patients from a hospital with an outbreak.

Regional infection control assessment of antibiotic resistance knowledge and practice.

Objective: Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are an increasing burden among healthcare facilities. We assessed facility-level perceived importance of and responses to various MDROs.

Design: A pilot survey to assess staffing, knowledge, and the perceived importance of and response to various multidrug resistant organisms (MDROs)

Setting: Acute care and long-term healthcare facilities

Methods: In 2012, a survey was distributed to infection preventionists at ~300 healthcare facilities.

Use of acid-fast bacilli staining to determine the need for airborne infection isolation precautions: a comparison of respiratory specimens.

Institution of appropriate airborne infection isolation (AII) precautions for patients with suspected Mycobacterium tuberculosis is critical to prevent disease transmission. We compared the yield of acid-fast bacilli smears from different types of respiratory specimens and found that smear sensitivity was highest for specimens obtained by endotracheal aspirates (92%), followed by sputum (79%), and then by bronchoalveolar lavage (37%). As a result of this study, our institutional policy regarding discontinuation of AII precautions was amended.

Identification, management, and clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with influenza-like illness during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, Cook County, Illinois.

Objective: To describe the identification, management, and clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) during the peak period of activity of the 2009 pandemic strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (2009 H1N1).

Design: Retrospective review of electronic medical records.

Patients And Setting: Hospitalized patients who presented to the emergency department during the period October 18 through November 14, 2009, at 4 hospitals in Cook County, Illinois, with the capacity to perform real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing for influenza.

Clostridium difficile outbreak strain BI is highly endemic in Chicago area hospitals.

Objective: Describe the clinical and molecular epidemiology of incident Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) cases in Chicago area acute healthcare facilities (HCFs).

Design And Setting: Laboratory, clinical, and epidemiologic information was collected for patients with incident CDI who were admitted to acute HCFs in February 2009. Stool cultures and restriction endonuclease analysis typing of the recovered C.

Clinical outcomes of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii bloodstream infections: study of a 2-state monoclonal outbreak.

Objective: To characterize the clinical outcomes of patients with bloodstream infection caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii during a 2-state monoclonal outbreak.

Design: Multicenter observational study. Setting.

Management of outbreaks of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in the neonatal intensive care unit: a consensus statement.

Objective: In 2002, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH; Chicago, Illinois) convened the Chicago-Area Neonatal MRSA Working Group (CANMWG) to discuss and compare approaches aimed at control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). To better understand these issues on a regional level, the CDPH and the Evanston Department of Health and Human Services (EDHHS; Evanston, Illinois) began an investigation.

Design: Survey to collect demographic, clinical, microbiologic, and epidemiologic data on individual cases and clusters of MRSA infection; an additional survey collected data on infection control practices.