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Containing COVID-19 outside the isolation ward: the impact of an infection control bundle on environmental contamination and transmission in a cohorted general ward.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:During an ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, unsuspected cases may be housed outside of dedicated isolation wards. AIM:At a Singaporean tertiary hospital, individuals with clinical syndromes compatible with COVID-19 but no epidemiologic risk were placed in cohorted general wards for COVID-19 testing. To mitigate risk, an infection control bundle was implemented comprising infrastructural enhancements, improved personal-protective-equipment (PPE), and social distancing. We assessed the impact on environmental contamination and transmission. METHOD:Upon detection of a case of COVID-19 in the dedicated general ward, patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) contacts were identified. All patient and staff-close contacts were placed on 14-day phone surveillance and followed-up for 28 days; symptomatic contacts were tested. Environmental samples were also obtained. FINDINGS:Over a 3-month period, 28 unsuspected cases of COVID-19 were contained in the dedicated general ward. In 5 of the 28 cases, sampling of the patient's environment yielded SARS-CoV-2; index cases who required supplemental oxygen had higher odds of environmental contamination (p=0.01). A total of 253 staff close-contacts and 45 patient close-contacts were identified; only 3 HCWs (1.2%, 3/253) required quarantine. On 28-day follow-up, no patient-to-HCW transmission was documented; only one symptomatic patient close-contact tested positive. CONCLUSION:Our institution successfully implemented an intervention bundle to mitigate COVID-19 transmission in a multi-bedded cohorted general ward setting.

SUBMITTER: Liang En Ian W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7319619 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Containing COVID-19 outside the isolation ward: The impact of an infection control bundle on environmental contamination and transmission in a cohorted general ward.

Wee Liang En Ian LEI Sim Xiang Ying Jean XYJ Conceicao Edwin Philip EP Aung May Kyawt MK Tan Kwee Yuen KY Ko Kwan Ki Karrie KKK Wong Hei Man HM Wijaya Limin L Tan Ban Hock BH Venkatachalam Indumathi I Ling Moi Lin ML

American journal of infection control 20200626 9

<h4>Background</h4>During an ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, unsuspected cases may be housed outside of dedicated isolation wards.<h4>Aim</h4>At a Singaporean tertiary hospital, individuals with clinical syndromes compatible with COVID-19 but no epidemiologic risk were placed in cohorted general wards for COVID-19 testing. To mitigate risk, an infection control bundle was implemented comprising infrastructural enhancements, improved personal protective equipment, and social distancing. We assessed ...[more]

PMID: 32599101

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Project description:BackgroundTemporary isolation wards have been introduced to meet demands for airborne-infection-isolation-rooms (AIIRs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental sampling and outbreak investigation was conducted in temporary isolation wards converted from general wards and/or prefabricated containers, in order to evaluate the ability of such temporary isolation wards to safely manage COVID-19 cases over a period of sustained use.MethodsEnvironmental sampling for SARS-CoV-2 RNA was conducted in temporary isolation ward rooms constructed from pre-fabricated containers (N = 20) or converted from normal-pressure general wards (N = 47). Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was utilized to ascertain health care-associated transmission when clusters were reported amongst HCWs working in isolation areas from July 2020 to December 2021.ResultsA total of 355 environmental swabs were collected; 22.4% (15/67) of patients had at least one positive environmental sample. Patients housed in temporary isolation ward rooms constructed from pre-fabricated containers (adjusted-odds-ratio, aOR = 10.46, 95% CI = 3.89-58.91, P = .008) had greater odds of detectable environmental contamination, with positive environmental samples obtained from the toilet area (60.0%, 12/20) and patient equipment, including electronic devices used for patient communication (8/20, 40.0%). A single HCW cluster was reported amongst staff working in the temporary isolation ward constructed from pre-fabricated containers; however, health care-associated transmission was deemed unlikely based on WGS and/or epidemiological investigations.ConclusionEnvironmental contamination with SARS-CoV-2 RNA was observed in temporary isolation wards, particularly from the toilet area and smartphones used for patient communication. However, despite intensive surveillance, no healthcare-associated transmission was detected in temporary isolation wards over 18 months of prolonged usage, demonstrating their capacity for sustained use during succeeding pandemic waves.

Project description:BackgroundEnvironmentally growing pathogens present an increasing threat for human health, wildlife and food production. Treating the hosts with antibiotics or parasitic bacteriophages fail to eliminate diseases that grow also in the outside-host environment. However, bacteriophages could be utilized to suppress the pathogen population sizes in the outside-host environment in order to prevent disease outbreaks. Here, we introduce a novel epidemiological model to assess how the phage infections of the bacterial pathogens affect epidemiological dynamics of the environmentally growing pathogens. We assess whether the phage therapy in the outside-host environment could be utilized as a biological control method against these diseases. We also consider how phage-resistant competitors affect the outcome, a common problem in phage therapy. The models give predictions for the scenarios where the outside-host phage therapy will work and where it will fail to control the disease. Parameterization of the model is based on the fish columnaris disease that causes significant economic losses to aquaculture worldwide. However, the model is also suitable for other environmentally growing bacterial diseases.ResultsTransmission rates of the phage determine the success of infectious disease control, with high-transmission phage enabling the recovery of the host population that would in the absence of the phage go asymptotically extinct due to the disease. In the presence of outside-host bacterial competition between the pathogen and phage-resistant strain, the trade-off between the pathogen infectivity and the phage resistance determines phage therapy outcome from stable coexistence to local host extinction.ConclusionsWe propose that the success of phage therapy strongly depends on the underlying biology, such as the strength of trade-off between the pathogen infectivity and the phage-resistance, as well as on the rate that the phages infect the bacteria. Our results indicate that phage therapy can fail if there are phage-resistant bacteria and the trade-off between pathogen infectivity and phage resistance does not completely inhibit the pathogen infectivity. Also, the rate that the phages infect the bacteria should be sufficiently high for phage-therapy to succeed.

Project description:Rationale: Monitoring patients’ vital signs is done to detect clinical deterioration. For this, the MEWS, a scoring list comprising seven vital signs measured by nursing staff, is used. Although the MEWS provides relevant data on patients’ health status, the interval measurements may not capture early deterioration of vital signs, especially during the night. As a result, unsafe situations may occur such as periods of low oxygen saturation and cardiac arrhythmias, which are known to complicate postoperative course. Besides, this way of measuring vital signs may be stressful for patients and disturbs patients’ sleep. New technology such as ViSi Mobile and HealthPatch allows for remote continuous monitoring of vital signs using wearable devices transmitting relevant data to nurses and clinicians. With this, the investigators think that clinical deterioration may be detected in an early phase and reduce nurse work load and patient distress. Objective: to investigate the feasibility of wearable devices on the general ward. Study design: feasibility study. Study population: adult patients hospitalized on the internal medicine ward and adult postoperative patients on the surgical ward. Intervention: patients in the intervention groups will be randomized in one of the two groups. Patients in the group 1 will wear ViSi Mobile; patients in group 2 will wear the HealthPatch. Wearable devices will be worn for at least three days. Regular MEWS measurements take place at usual time points. Main study parameters/endpoints: Evaluation with patient and care givers (primary outcome measure), MEWS calculations, time between alarm (continuous data) and next regular MEWS measurement (nurse), intervention by nurse after alarm, admission to ICU, complications, side effects of devices, STAI scores, and PCS scores will be documented. Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation, benefit and group relatedness: Patients will wear one device for at least three days. Devices can be uncomfortable by being heavy or the patches can start itching. More measurements by nurses can take place when indicated, for example after alarms. The participating patients will fill out the STAI on daily basis and the PCS on the last day of hospitalization. Both questionnaires will take a few minutes to complete. Patients could benefit from early detection of clinical deterioration and early corrective interventions or ICU admissions.

Dataset Information

Containing COVID-19 outside the isolation ward: the impact of an infection control bundle on environmental contamination and transmission in a cohorted general ward.

Publications

Containing COVID-19 outside the isolation ward: The impact of an infection control bundle on environmental contamination and transmission in a cohorted general ward.

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