A study published in examined Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology multidrug-resistant organism transmission between the environment and patients in a hospital setting.
Researchers conducted a prospective cohort study at two academic medical centers. They studied the nature of bacterial transfer events in rooms that previously housed patients with one of four "marker" multidrug-resistant organisms: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, Clostridium difficile and multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.
They collected environmental and patient microbiological samples on admission into a disinfected inpatient room. They then gathered repeat samples from room surfaces and patients on days three and seven, and each week the patient stayed in the same room.
The study shows that of 80 admissions studied, 11.3 percent were colonized with multidrug-resistant organisms at the beginning of the study. Hospital room surfaces were contaminated with multidrug-resistant organisms despite terminal disinfection in 55 percent of the cases. Microbiological bacterial transfer events either to the patient, the environment or both occurred in 18.5 percent of the cases.
"This study suggests that research on prevention methods beyond the standard practice of room disinfection at the end of a patient's stay is needed to better prevent acquisition of MDROs through the environment," study authors concluded.