Microbial assessment of recontamination with multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter in patient room environment in a burn unit.

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have demonstrated that environmental contamination with several epidemiologically important pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp, Acinetobacter, norovirus, and Clostridioides difficile, can persist for several days to months and contributes to the transmission of these pathogens.

METHODS

This study was conducted in a burn intensive care unit to determine the time to recontamination of environmental surfaces with a multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii after disinfection. After disinfection, samples were taken from 6 environmental sites using Rodac plates at 1-hour intervals for 10 hours.

RESULTS

Time to recontamination with Acinetobacter was as follows: chair, 3 hours; overbed table, 2 hours; stock cabinet, 3 hours; and IV pump, 2 hours.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrated that recontamination with Acinetobacter occurred rapidly at environmental sites in burn units even after cleaning/disinfection and underscored the need for enhanced environmental cleaning, including continuous disinfection methods, to prevent transmission of health care-associated pathogens.