Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria That Could Cause Hospital Acquired Infection Found in Hospital Wastewaters, Study Reveals

A new study has discovered the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, that is capable of causing hospital acquired infection, in the wastewater system of a hospital.

Antimicrobial Resistance

The public and healthcare professional space are both well-familiar with the term antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The threat is currently a global challenge that affects millions of individuals every year.

One AMR-related treat is hospital acquired infection, which takes place when people who get hospitalized for treatment end up getting infected by the microbes within the wards. understanding the nature, location, and resistance of these microbes could help with the prevention and management of infection outbreaks.

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Present in Hospital Wastewaters

The study was led by researchers from the University of Limerick in Ireland. The UL School of Medicine partnered with the University Hospital Limerick and Queen's University Belfast to finish a comprehensive study that delved into hospital wastewaters. There they found a bacteria reservoir that was antibiotic resistant.

The research is the first to examine the scale of wastewater and to correlate findings with infection outbreaks. The researchers performed large scale microbiology and genomic analysis on the wastewater system of the UHL. Efforts covered biofilm processing linked to 20 toilets, showers, and sinks form a ward that has been a repeated outbreak location of bacteria strains that were antibiotic resistant.

The cross-sectional nature of the study was made possible when the specific ward went through refurbishment. This offered the researchers an opportunity to examine its microbial environment and various piperwork elements in the infrastructure of the hospital.

The metagenome analysis enabled the researchers to get a full picture of the communities of bacteria found in the toilet, shower, and sink pipework. It allowed them to profile the antimicrobial resistant genes that the present bacteria carried.

Aside from this, they also processed samples from patients that got infected during their admission in the ward. Doing so enabled them to confirm that the bacteria behind the infection were likely present in the hospital's wastewaters.

Professor Colum Dunne, the study lead, senior author, and the Director of Research of the School of Medicine and the Head of School and Foundation Chair, explains that antimicrobial resistance risks in hospital settings are widely recognized. However, this study is the first to look into hospital wastewaters at such a scale and to perform in-depth metagenomic profiling of the bacteria within the pipeworks while correlating the findings with outbreaks of infection.

The researchers express their appreciation for the hospital management and engineering's cooperation and openness.

The study could lead to improvements in infection control and prevention, which will benefit admitted patients. The findings also carry global significance.

Adjust associate clinical microbiology professor Dr. Nuala O'Connell, who is also a consultant and study co-author, explains that the work is crucial to understanding the role played by the hospital environment, particularly the toilets, showers, and sinks, when it comes to antibiotic resistant bacteria.

If such reservoirs can be stopped through policies and practices for controlling infection, patients may be stopped from acquiring infections that are hard to treat.

Professor Dunne also stresses the importance of cross-discipline collaboration, highlighting that the study's success was due to the combined expertise of Limerick's clinical microbiology and medical capabilities as well as the QUB team's advanced molecular capacities.

Check out more news and information on Medicine and Health in Science Times.