Publications by authors named "Zintars Beldavs"

Background: Understanding the epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii complex (CRAB) and the patients impacted is an important step toward informing better infection prevention and control practices and improving public health response.

Methods: Active, population-based surveillance was conducted for CRAB in 9 U.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are mostly linked to healthcare settings but are increasingly being found in the community.* -
  • A study from January 2012 to December 2015 identified 1499 cases of CRE, with 10% classified as community-associated, primarily affecting White females and detected mostly in urine samples.* -
  • Some community-associated isolates contained carbapenemase genes, highlighting the need for ongoing surveillance of CRE outside healthcare environments to track their emergence.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are a growing public health concern due to resistance to multiple antibiotics and potential to cause health care-associated infections with high mortality. Carbapenemase-producing CRE are of particular concern given that carbapenemase-encoding genes often are located on mobile genetic elements that may spread between different organisms and species. In this study, we performed phenotypic and genotypic characterization of CRE collected at eight U.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We evaluated the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and community-associated Clostridioides difficile infection (CA-CDI) incidence across 2474 census tracts in 10 states. Highly correlated community-level SES variables were transformed into distinct factors using factor analysis. We found low SES communities were associated with higher CA-CDI incidence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We assessed viral co-infections in 155 patients with community-associated Clostridioides difficile infection in five U.S. sites during December 2012-February 2013.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Efforts to prevent infection continue to expand across the health care spectrum in the United States. Whether these efforts are reducing the national burden of infection is unclear.

Methods: The Emerging Infections Program identified cases of infection (stool specimens positive for in a person ≥1 year of age with no positive test in the previous 8 weeks) in 10 U.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Infectious Diseases Society of America/Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (IDSA/SHEA) guidelines describe recommended therapy for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).

Objective: To describe CDI treatment and, among those with severe CDI, determine predictors of adherence to the 2010 IDSA/SHEA treatment guidelines.

Design: We analyzed 2013-2015 CDI treatment data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infections Program.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In 2014, Oregon implemented an interfacility transfer communication law requiring notification of multidrug-resistant organism status on patient transfer. Based on 2015 and 2016 statewide facility surveys, compliance was 77% and 87% for hospitals, and 67% and 68% for skilled nursing facilities. Methods for complying with the rule were heterogeneous, and fewer than half of all facilities surveyed reported use of a standardized interfacility transfer communication form to assess a patient's multidrug-resistant organism status on transfer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is intrinsically resistant to many antimicrobial drugs, making carbapenems crucial in clinical management. During July-October 2015 in the United States, we piloted laboratory-based surveillance for carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA) at sentinel facilities in Georgia, New Mexico, Oregon, and Tennessee, and population-based surveillance in Monroe County, NY.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We investigated a cluster of Mycobacterium fortuitum and M. goodii prosthetic joint surgical site infections occurring during 2010-2014. Cases were defined as culture-positive nontuberculous mycobacteria surgical site infections that had occurred within 1 year of joint replacement surgery performed on or after October 1, 2010.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: A point-prevalence survey that was conducted in the United States in 2011 showed that 4% of hospitalized patients had a health care-associated infection. We repeated the survey in 2015 to assess changes in the prevalence of health care-associated infections during a period of national attention to the prevention of such infections.

Methods: At Emerging Infections Program sites in 10 states, we recruited up to 25 hospitals in each site area, prioritizing hospitals that had participated in the 2011 survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Candidemia and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) are important healthcare-associated infections that share certain risk factors. We sought to describe candidemia-CDI coinfection using population-based surveillance data. We found that nearly 1 in 10 patients with candidemia had CDI coinfection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: An increasing proportion of infections (CDI) in the United States are community-associated (CA). We conducted a case-control study to identify CA-CDI risk factors.

Methods: We enrolled participants from 10 US sites during October 2014-March 2015.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In healthcare settings, Acinetobacter spp. bacteria commonly demonstrate antimicrobial resistance, making them a major treatment challenge. Nearly half of Acinetobacter organisms from clinical cultures in the United States are nonsusceptible to carbapenem antimicrobial drugs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

During 2011-2015, the adjusted long-term-care facility onset Clostridium difficile infection incidence rate in persons aged ≥65 years decreased annually by 17.45% (95% confidence interval, 14.53%-20.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Carbapenem antibiotics are among the mainstays for treating infections caused by , especially in the Northwest United States, where carbapenem-resistant remains relatively rare. However, between June 2012 and October 2014, an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant occurred in 16 patients from five health care facilities in the state of Oregon. All isolates were defined as extensively drug resistant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

OBJECTIVE To determine the scope, source, and mode of transmission of a multifacility outbreak of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Acinetobacter baumannii. DESIGN Outbreak investigation. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Residents and patients in skilled nursing facilities, long-term acute-care hospital, and acute-care hospitals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The first Oregon case of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1)-producing was reported during November 2013. Epidemiologic investigation revealed only local outpatient medical care and no travel outside Oregon for both the patient and his household contact. Environmental sampling discovered a matching isolate from the patient's household vacuum cleaner, suggesting environmental persistence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are an urgent public health threat. We evaluated the capacity of the Carba NP test to detect carbapenemase production in 206 isolates: 143 Enterobacteriaceae identified by Oregon's CRE surveillance program in 2013 and 63 known carbapenemase-positive organisms. Overall, test sensitivity and specificity were 89% (59/66 isolates; 95% confidence interval [CI], 81 to 97%) and 100% (140/140 isolates; 95% CI, 98 to 100%), respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background.  Approximately 4 million Americans receive nursing home (NH) care annually. Nursing home residents commonly have risk factors for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), including advanced age and antibiotic exposures.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background.  Antibiotic use predisposes patients to Clostridium difficile infections (CDI), and approximately 32% of these infections are community-associated (CA) CDI. The population-level impact of antibiotic use on adult CA-CDI rates is not well described.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are increasingly reported worldwide as a cause of infections with high-mortality rates. Assessment of the US epidemiology of CRE is needed to inform national prevention efforts.

Objective: To determine the population-based CRE incidence and describe the characteristics and resistance mechanism associated with isolates from 7 US geographical areas.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Large-scale, prospective, evaluation of sampling for central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) denominator data was necessary prior to National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) implementation.

Methods: In a sample of volunteer hospitals from states in the Emerging Infections Program, prospective collection of CLABSI denominators (patient days, central line days [CLDs]) was performed in eligible locations for ≥6 and ≤12 consecutive months using the current NHSN method (daily collection) and also by a second data collector who sampled the denominator data 1 d/wk. The quality of the sampled data was evaluated and used to calculate estimated CLDs and CLABSI rates, which were compared with actual CLDs and CLABSI rates (daily counts).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is no longer restricted to hospital settings, and population-based incidence measures are needed. Understanding the determinants of CDI incidence will allow for more meaningful comparisons of rates and accurate national estimates.

Methods: Data from active population- and laboratory-based CDI surveillance in 7 US states were used to identify CDI cases (ie, residents with positive C difficile stool specimen without a positive test in the prior 8 weeks).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The magnitude and scope of Clostridium difficile infection in the United States continue to evolve.

Methods: In 2011, we performed active population- and laboratory-based surveillance across 10 geographic areas in the United States to identify cases of C. difficile infection (stool specimens positive for C.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF