The strain contained ‘New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase’ (NDM-1) and affected eight patients in a Southern California hospital. According to UCLA, “The cases appeared unrelated, spread out across time and hospital units, defying traditional outbreak patterns.”
Upon connecting the outbreak to a sink in the ICU (with whole genome sequencing), microbiology and infection prevention scientists from UCLA took the following steps to resolve the issue:
Cleaned with Virasept every week.
Re-did the plumbing in the affected sink.
Trained the hospital’s employees “to keep all patient care supplies out of the sink’s splash zone.”
Steps one and three are now permanently implemented in the hospital’s ICU, in addition to modifying all sinks to prevent ‘splash-back.’ According to UCLA, “No additional infections have been reported since these interventions were implemented.”
