How two California hospitals prevented the spread of a deadly fungal infection during the pandemic:
Arlington, Va., June 29, 2021 - In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, infection preventionists at two Southern California hospitals took extreme measures to stop the spread of a deadly fungus that has emerged in the U.S. and around the world. The two will detail their proactive responses in oral presentations today at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology's (APIC's), 48th Annual Conference.
In separate responses, Scripps Memorial in La Jolla and UCLA Health in Los Angeles isolated suspected or confirmed patients, worked closely with public health departments and information technology and lab teams at their facilities, and implemented aggressive measures to prevent the pathogen, Candida auris, from spreading.
"The fact that these two teams recognized this threat and were able to mobilize so quickly and effectively while also on high alert for COVID is remarkable," said APIC 2021 President Ann Marie Pettis, BSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC. "Their case studies demonstrate how important it is that hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities have enough infection preventionists and resources to train staff and monitor safety protocols so they can prevent harm on multiple fronts."
C. auris is a type of fungus that causes severe, often fatal infections and is resistant to most antifungal drugs. It can be carried on a patient's skin and can survive on surfaces for more than a month, allowing it to spread easily among patients. Most hospital disinfectants can't kill C. auris, making it difficult to eradicate from the healthcare environment. It is also easy to misidentify in lab tests.
In March 2020, during the initial influx of COVID-19 patients, infection preventionist Elizabeth A. Jefferson, BS, PhD, CIC, of Scripps Memorial, was notified that her facility had received the first known case of C. auris in San Diego County.
Initially flagged and isolated because the patient had received healthcare abroad, laboratory tests confirmed C. auris in a wound. The patient remained hospitalized in isolation for 47 days, during which time the team implemented aggressive cleaning measures, including use of a disinfectant that was effective against C. auris and UV light for terminal cleaning of all patient rooms.
"Education of staff was essential," said Jefferson. "Staff had to clean and disinfect the room twice a day, and then clean any shared equipment, because if Candida auris sets up shop in your facility, it is extremely difficult to get rid of."
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 30 2021, @06:27AM
Are you ever moist when you post? Please share with everyone everyone everyone everyone. fuck the planet.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 30 2021, @06:44AM
(Score: -1, Funny) by Username on Wednesday June 30 2021, @06:59AM (4 children)
Infection preventionist Elizabeth A. Jefferson, BS, PhD, CIC, Duchess of Scripps Memorial, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons, Leader of the Free Men. was. notified.
Her of the most importance then instructed the peasants to use disinfectants and clean the rooms.
Round of applause everyone.
This kind of smug crap is why everyone hates californians and germans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi8ShAosqzI [youtube.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 30 2021, @09:53AM (3 children)
C. auris is no joke. It is so bad that you have to use special disinfectants and clean literally every square inch of the room including the backsides of ceiling tiles and registers, inside light fixtures, and many other places you'd never even think about. Thankfully, if you do disinfect regularly and have them in a negative pressure area, you don't have to get absolutely everywhere, but if it gets established you are screwed. It is so insidious that it will and has literally shut down hospitals.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday June 30 2021, @05:08PM (2 children)
(+1) Interesting. Citations?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 01 2021, @02:19AM (1 child)
For which, exactly?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 01 2021, @03:37AM
For the claims, mainly.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Wednesday June 30 2021, @12:32PM (2 children)
"Quickly and effectively" mobilize, ensure "education of staff", and isolate the infected or possibly infected.
Larger lesson: know how it spreads. For this one, a well-chosen disinfectant is the preventive. For COVID, it's source control and air filtration.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 30 2021, @05:06PM
And for Mexicans, it's build a wall at the border. Can't win them all...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by KilroySmith on Wednesday June 30 2021, @05:22PM
It still amazes me that 1 in 30 hospital patients acquires an infection IN THE HOSPITAL, and we shrug and say "That's the way it is". C. auris is only seen as a problem because of the financial cost to the hospital in trying to clean it up - pneumonia or other deadly infections aren't so much a problem because the patient/insurance pays for it.
The next time you're in a hospital or other health-care facility, spend a few minutes looking around the room thinking "If I were an infectious organism, where could I hide in here". You'll see porous ceiling tiles, uncleanable light fixtures, pictures hung on the walls, cloth upholstered chairs, power outlets, seams in the linoleum flooring (or worst of all, carpet), instruments that have a million uncleanable cracks and crevices, privacy curtains, cabinets with doors and interior shelves, etc. Cleaning all surfaces could be done - but it would take days to do a single room, and weeks to do an entire facility, and all those cloth/carpeted/porous surfaces would need to be replaced.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 30 2021, @07:26PM (3 children)
Same or related to the one that ravaged India?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 01 2021, @03:44AM (1 child)
according to the BBC re. India:
Mucormycosis is a very rare infection. It is caused by exposure to mucor mould which is commonly found in soil, plants, manure, and decaying fruits and vegetables. "It is ubiquitous and found in soil and air and even in the nose and mucus of healthy people," says Dr Nair.
It affects the sinuses, the brain and the lungs and can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immunocompromised individuals, such as cancer patients or people with HIV/AIDS.
Doctors believe mucormycosis, which has an overall mortality rate of 50%, may be being triggered by the use of steroids, a life-saving treatment for severe and critically ill Covid-19 patients.
I'm tempted to say that if it's ubiquitous, then it doesn't have an overall mortality rate of 50%, as when I look around me, I don't see half of the humans dead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 01 2021, @05:47AM
You are conflating the pathogen with the disease. The pathogen is ubiquitous. The disease has a mortality rate of between 33% and 96%, with an overall fatality rate of around 54%.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 01 2021, @05:40AM
They are two different ones. This is about the strains of the species Candida auris and its associated disease Candidiasis. India is having outbreaks of Mucormycosis, which is caused by fungi in the order Mucorales, which is a different clade than the one C. auris falls under. While both are fungal diseases and require treatment by specialists, they have different treatment protocols and progressions.