Vietnam has tailored established an infection prevention and management (IPC) measures for limited-resource settings to assist cease the unfold of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), recognized as an pressing antimicrobial resistance (AR) risk in CDC’s 2019 AR Threats Report. A CDC-supported initiative at The College Medical Middle Ho Chi Minh Metropolis (UMC) in Vietnam that used IPC high quality enchancment (QI) methods to scale back CRE colonization and an infection in a common intensive care unit (ICU) demonstrates the optimistic affect that IPC actions can have on CRE prevention.

CRE are a sort of resistant micro organism which can be regarding as a result of they will unfold shortly in healthcare settings and trigger extreme, difficult-to-treat infections. Nonetheless, some folks will also be colonized with CRE, that means the micro organism are alive and rising on or in an individual’s physique with out the individual having signs. When somebody is colonized, they don’t seem to be actively sick, however colonized people could also be extra prone to develop CRE infections sooner or later, they usually can unknowingly unfold CRE to others in. IPC is important to stop the unfold of those micro organism in well being care settings.
Combating CRE with IPC Interventions
UMC was identified to have excessive prevalence of CRE. Seventy-seven p.c of common ICU sufferers examined there in June 2019 had been discovered to be colonized or contaminated with CRE, and plenty of of those sufferers probably acquired the micro organism whereas within the hospital. With CDC’s assist, the QI CRE prevention actions started in September 2019, with the objective to lower the variety of sufferers newly recognized with CRE an infection or colonization within the ICU by 50% over one yr. Key actions included:
- Screening all ICU sufferers for CRE on admission and each 2 days
- Isolating any affected person discovered to be contaminated or colonized with CRE
- Establishing cohort areas within the healthcare facility to take care of CRE sufferers
- Enhancing hand hygiene monitoring for healthcare suppliers
- Enhancing environmental cleansing and monitoring practices
- Coaching IPC and ICU workers on these actions
Implementing efficient IPC in resource-limited settings will be difficult for a lot of causes, together with poor hospital infrastructure, insufficient human and materials sources, and hospital overcrowding. Nonetheless, regardless of these challenges, charges of CRE an infection and colonization decreased significantly at UMC with the implementation of those IPC actions. Over the course of the year-long QI mission, circumstances of CRE infections and colonization decreased by 85%, from 15.0 circumstances/100 patient-days in September 2019 to 2.3 circumstances/100 patient-days in August 2020. These spectacular outcomes have been sustained within the years for the reason that mission ended. UMC has continued IPC interventions together with screening all ICU sufferers for CRE (decreased to weekly frequency) and maintained incidence of recent CRE circumstances between 2.0 and 4.0 circumstances/100 affected person days.
When prevalence of AR is excessive in a healthcare setting, healthcare staff could really feel powerless to battle this public well being risk. Nonetheless, UMC’s success exhibits that even within the face of excessive prevalence and restricted sources, dedication to implementing IPC finest practices may help healthcare staff successfully defend sufferers within the battle towards AR and assist save lives.
Motivated by their success, UMC, with continued CDC assist, hopes to develop these actions to extra ICUs within the hospital and to mentor different hospitals in Vietnam to have related success.
Increasing Success Globally
The teachings discovered from Vietnam can even inform the work of CDC’s International Motion in Healthcare Community (GAIHN), a collaborative community of nations, establishments, and companions at world, regional, nationwide, and subnational ranges working to handle rising infectious illness threats in healthcare settings by speedy detection, prevention, and response.
In 2019, AR infections are estimated to have killed at the least 1.27 million folks worldwide and had been related to practically 5 million deaths, greater than both HIV or malaria. That very same yr, the World Well being Group declared AR to be one of many high 10 public well being threats dealing with humanity. Current research point out that the USA and different nations misplaced progress combating AR in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, that means that the issue continues to develop and evolve in all areas of the world.
The Antimicrobial Resistance Module of GAIHN (GAIHN-AR), part of CDC’s International Antimicrobial Laboratory and Response Community, makes use of an method just like UMC’s to guard sufferers and healthcare staff from important and rising AR threats. GAIHN-AR healthcare amenities collaborate with laboratory and IPC consultants from the native to the worldwide degree to detect AR organisms in healthcare settings, talk about detected threats, and reply by implementing IPC actions.
Be taught extra about CDC’s work to detect, stop, and reply to AR globally.
References:
Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. International burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a scientific evaluation. 2022. Lancet, 399, pp. 629-655. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0
Tran, D.M., Larsson, M., Olson, L., Hoang, N.T.B., Le, N.Okay., Khu, D.T.Okay., Nguyen, H.D., Vu, T.V., Trinh, T.H., Le, T.Q., Phan, P.T.T., Nguyen, B.G., Pham, N.H., Mai, B.H., Nguyen, T.V., Nguyen, P.T.Okay., Le, N.D., Huynh, T.M., Anh Thu, L.T., Thanh, T.C., Berglund, B., Nilsson, L.E., Bornefall, E., Track, L.H., Hanberger, H. 2019. Excessive prevalence of colonisation with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae amongst sufferers admitted to Vietnamese hospitals: Danger elements and burden of illness. Journal of An infection, 79(2), pp. 115-122. DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2019.05.013
Creator: Amber Vasquez, MD, MPH is a doctor of Inside Drugs and Infectious Illnesses. She is at present staff lead within the Worldwide An infection Management Program within the Division of Healthcare High quality Promotion on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention in Atlanta.