An outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in a COVID-19 dedicated hospital

Tamar Gottesman; Rina Fedorowsky; Rebecca Yerushalmi; Jonathan Lellouche; Amir Nutman

doi:10.1016/j.infpip.2021.100113

An outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in a COVID-19 dedicated hospital

Infect Prev Pract. 2021 Mar;3(1):100113. doi: 10.1016/j.infpip.2021.100113. Epub 2021 Jan 9.

Authors

Tamar Gottesman^{1

2}, Rina Fedorowsky¹, Rebecca Yerushalmi³, Jonathan Lellouche⁴, Amir Nutman^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases and Control Unit, Rabin Medical Center, Hasharon Hospital, Petach Tikva, Israel.
² Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
³ Microbiology Laboratory, Rabin Medical Center, Hasharon Hospital, Petach Tikva, Israel.
⁴ National Institute for Infection Control and Antibiotic Resistance, Israel Ministry of Health, Israel.

Abstract

We describe an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in a COVID-19 dedicated hospital. The suspected mechanism of transfer was an environmental source that persisted despite evacuation and terminal cleaning of the entire hospital, and transmitted through healthcare workers' hands or equipment. This outbreak demonstrates that practices to prevent the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms must not be neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB); Environmental sampling; Infection control; Outbreak investigation; Screening.