COVID-19 clusters in a teaching hospital during the second wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in France: A descriptive study and lessons learned for waves to come.

A total of 92 coronavirus disease 2019 clusters involving 1,156 individuals (729 patients and 427 healthcare workers) occurred in Lyon University Hospital between September 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, mostly on medical and geriatric wards. The number of clusters was closely correlated to the trend in coronavirus disease 2019 community incidence over time; in-hospital clusters did not persist when community incidence decreased. Recommended preventive measures were not fully applicable due to specific ward-associated determinants and patient characteristics.

Assessment of serological techniques for screening patients for COVID-19 (COVID-SER): a prospective, multicentric study.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 threatens global public health, and there is an urgent public health need to assess acquired immunity to SARS-CoV-2. Serological tests might provide results that can be complementary to or confirm suspected COVID-19 cases and reveal previous infection. The performance of serological assays (sensitivity and specificity) has to be evaluated before their use in the general population. The neutralisation capacity of the produced antibodies also has to be evaluated. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We set up a prospective, multicentric clinical study to evaluate the performance of serological kits among a population of healthcare workers presenting mild symptoms suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Four hundred symptomatic healthcare workers will be included in the COVID-SER study. The values obtained from a control cohort included during the prepandemic time will be used as reference. A workflow was set up to study serological response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and to evaluate antibody neutralisation capacity in patients with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The sensitivity and specificity of the tests will be assessed using molecular detection of the virus as a reference. The measurement of IgM and IgG antibodies will be performed once per week for 6 consecutive weeks and then at 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months after the diagnosis. The kinetics of IgM and IgG will determine the optimal period to perform serological testing. The proportion of false negative PCR tests in symptomatic subjects will be determined on the basis of subsequent seroconversions. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been obtained from the national review board for biomedical research in April 2020 (Comité de Protection des Personnes Sud Méditerranée I, Marseille, France) (ID RCB 2020-A00932-37). Results will be disseminated through presentations at scientific meetings and publications in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04341142.

Technics to put on and remove personal protective equipment before surgical or obstetrical procedure in suspected or infected COVID-19 patients (with video).

Coronavirus pandemic is widely changing our professional daily practice and preventive measures must be taken and taught. Before any planned gynaecological or obstetric surgery, specific technics to put on and safely remove personal protective equipment should be implemented in order to avoid any contamination for both patients and healthcare workers.

Factors influencing field testing of alcohol-based hand rubs.

BACKGROUND: According to the World Health Organization guidelines, field tests, in the context of a bid for the supply of alcohol-based hand rubs, should take into account climatic region, test period, products already in use, and type of use (hygienic or surgical) when assessing tolerance. This laborious method is often contested. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a post hoc analysis of the data of a large bid, including 5 factors, to validate the relevance of their inclusion. METHODS: For the purposes of the bid, products were compared in terms of the 4 World Health Organization tolerance criteria (appearance, intactness, moisture content, sensation) during product testing and were separated into groups on the basis of the studied factors. The post hoc analysis method included (1) comparison of the mean before-and-after difference based on the self-evaluation of the skin with the 4 World Health Organization tolerance criteria, between climatic regions, periods, products in use, test product, and the type of use; (2) generalized linear models, taking into account all studied factors. RESULTS: The analysis included data for 1,925 pairs of professionals. The means of the differences observed were independently and significantly associated with the test period (P<.001), the hygienic or surgical use (P=.010 to .041, not significant for appearance), the product already in use (significant for appearance P=.021), and the test product (P<.001). The association with climatic region was found to be significant only in the nonadjusted analysis. CONCLUSION: The type of use, the test period, and the product in use should be taken into account when designing field tests of alcohol-based hand rubs.

Outbreak of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae carrying qnrB1 and blaCTX-M15 in a French intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae is increasing globally and is a major clinical concern. Between June 2008 and September 2009, 4% of patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) were found to be colonized or infected by strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae multiresistant to ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, and tobramycin; an investigation was initiated and isolates were characterized by molecular typing and resistance patterns. METHODS: Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined by Vitek2®, Etest®, and agar dilution. Gene encoding beta-lactamases and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance PMQR determinants (qnr, aac(6')-Ib) were characterized by PCR, sequencing, and transfer assays. DiversiLab® fingerprints were used to study the relatedness of isolates. RESULTS: Fourteen isolates co-expressing blaCTX-M15, qnrB1, and aac(6')-Ib-cr were identified. Genotypic analysis of these isolates identified 12 clonally related strains recovered from 10 patients. The increased prevalence of blaCTX-M15-qnrB1-aac(6')-Ib-cr-producing K. pneumoniae coincided with the presence in the ICU of a patient originally from Nigeria. This patient was infected by a strain not clonally related to the others but harbouring qnrB1 and aac(6')-Ib-cr genes, a finding not hitherto observed in France. We suspected transmission of resistance plasmids followed by rapid dissemination of the multiresistant K. pneumoniae clone by cross-transmission. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of microbiological screening for multidrug-resistant strains in ICUs, particularly among patients from regions in which multidrug-resistant bacteria are known to exist.

Severe cutaneous aspergillosis in a premature neonate linked to nonsterile disposable glove contamination?

After having eliminated a dysfunction of the hospital's ventilation system and any other possible environmental reservoir, the investigation of a fatal case of primary cutaneous aspergillosis in a neonate with extremely low birth weight led to the conclusion that nonsterile disposable gloves kept stored in their native packages were the likely source of contamination.

Conversion of prevalence survey data on nosocomial infections to incidence estimates: a simplified tool for surveillance?

We calculated the incidence of nosocomial infection in 2 intensive care units (ICUs) on the basis of prevalence data recorded from 1997 through 2002 and compared these estimates to cumulative incidences measured in the 2 ICUs during the same period to investigate the feasibility and the reliability of converting prevalence data to incidence estimates. Decreases in the calculated and measured incidences over time in the ICUs were found to be statistically significantly related.

Analysis of polymorphism in the protease and reverse transcriptase genes of HIV type 1 CRF02-AG subtypes from drug-naive patients from Saint-Etienne, France.

SUMMARY: : The proportion of non-B HIV-1 variants is increasing in Western Europe. The impact of the high polymorphism in the protease and reverse transcriptase genes, as recently described for CRF02-AG isolates of African origin, on antiretroviral resistance is still disputed. We first examined the polymorphism of these genes in CRF02-AG strains recovered from drug-naive patients followed at the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne in France, most of these of French origin and harboring a clonal strain as elicited by phylogenic analysis. The first plasma sample detected positive from 31 CRF02-AG and 23 B strains was used to compare sequences with their respective subtype consensus strain. The overall number of mutations was dramatically higher for CRF02-AG strains than for B strains in both protease and reverse transcriptase genes (P < 0.0001 and 0.009, respectively). In addition, no statistically significant difference in the number of therapeutic failures, mean CD4 cell count, and viral load was observed between 22 and 45 patients infected with CRF02-AG or B strains, respectively, during a mean treatment period of 25.5 months. Even if no striking antiretroviral failure linked to this polymorphism was observed during short-term follow-up, its impact on long-term therapy will have to be extensively evaluated in patients infected by non-B HIV-1 variants.

Bacterial contamination of nonsterile disposable gloves before use.

BACKGROUND: After Bacillus cereus recovery in opened boxes of disposable gloves, the bacteriological contamination of disposable nonsterile gloves kept stored in native packages was investigated prospectively. METHODS: Thirty-six commercially available nonsterile nonpowdered disposable gloves made of latex, vinyl, or nitrile were cultured. RESULTS: A large variety of spore-forming and non-spore-forming bacteria was recovered, including Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens. CONCLUSION: This finding must be taken into consideration for care involving gloves in very immunocompromised patients.

Implication of a healthcare worker with chronic skin disease in the transmission of an epidemic strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a pediatric intensive care unit.

This outbreak of colonization of neonates in a 10-bed pediatric intensive care unit illustrates the probable role of a healthcare worker (HCW) in the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, despite good hygienic practices. It raises the issue of preventive exclusion of HCWs affected by chronic skin disease from high-risk units.