Korean J Clin Microbiol.  2008 Oct;11(2):123-128. 10.5145/KJCM.2008.11.2.123.

Epidemiological Investigation of an Outbreak of Escherichia coli Infections in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a University Hospital

• Oh HR
• Moon DS
• Jang SJ
• Li XM
• Kim DM
• Park SG
• Park G
• Park YJ

• KMID: 1480980
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5145/KJCM.2008.11.2.123

Abstract

BACKGROUND
In July 2007, three neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Chosun University Hospital expired due to Escherichia coli sepsis. An E. coli outbreak was suspected.
METHODS
To investigate the outbreak, environmental cultures were taken from NICU. We performed repetitive extragenic palindromic (rep)-PCR to compare genotypes of the three isolates from the cases and one environmental strain of E. coli. A case-control study was done in order to identify risk factors for the infection.
RESULTS
In July 2007, the attack rate of E. coli was 11.1%, which was higher than the basal rate. All the three E. coli isolates from the cases presented the same antimicrobial susceptibility pattern whereas other E. coli isolated from non-outbreak period presented different patterns. Among environmental cultures, only one specimen collected from the surface of a bathtub for neonates was culture positive for E. coli. Three strains of the cases and one environmental strain of E. coli showed the same rep-PCR pattern, while control strains showed different patterns. No statistically significant difference in risk factors was found between the case and control groups in the case-control study.
CONCLUSION
The result of rep-PCR assay showed that the outbreak had originated from a single clone of E. coli. But we could not identify risk factors for the infection. The attack rate of E. coli in NICU returned to the basal level after implement of the infection control measures such as disinfection of NICU environment and equipments, thorough hand washing, and education of health care workers.

Keyword

Escherichia coli; Neonatal intensive care units; Outbreaks; Repetitive sequence; PCR

MeSH Terms

Case-Control Studies
Clone Cells
Delivery of Health Care
Disease Outbreaks
Disinfection
Escherichia
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli Infections
Genotype
Hand Disinfection
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infection Control
Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
Intensive Care, Neonatal
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
Risk Factors
Sepsis
Sprains and Strains

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Temporal distribution of admissions, discharges, and date of specimen sampling. The gray boxes indicate admission period of cases with septicemia due to E. coli outbreak strain infection. The ▼ marks indicate the date of isolation of E. coli from the cases.

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  Fig. 2. Epidemic curve of E. coli outbreak in NICU from January 2006 to December 2007.

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  Fig. 3. The spot map of E. coli outbreak in NICU. The ★ marks indicate the location of incubators of involved cases and the environmental culture site where E. coli was isolated.

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  Fig. 4. Rep-PCR patterns of E.coli isolated from patients, environmental culture, and non-outbreak control strains. Lane M, molecular weight marker; Lane 1, case 1; Lane 2, case 2; Lane 3, case 3; Lane 4, environmental culture strain, Lane 5 to 14, non-outbreak control strains.

Reference

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