Open AccessWhole-genome-based analysis reveals multiclone Serratia marcescens outbreaks in a non-Neonatal Intensive Care Unit setting in a tertiary care hospital in India
Author(s) -
Anusha Rohit,
Dinesh Kumar,
I. Dhinakaran,
Jessy Joy,
Vijaya Kumar Deekshit,
Ballamoole Krishna Kumar,
Iddya Karunasagar,
Karola Prior,
Harmsen Dag
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of medical microbiology/journal of medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1473-5644
pISSN - 0022-2615
DOI - 10.1099/jmm.0.000947
Subject(s) - outbreak , serratia marcescens , neonatal intensive care unit , medicine , intensive care unit , cluster (spacecraft) , infection control , intensive care , sepsis , intensive care medicine , emergency medicine , pediatrics , biology , virology , biochemistry , escherichia coli , computer science , gene , programming language
We report the use of next generation sequencing (NGS) for investigating an outbreak of 13 cases of Serratia marcescens blood stream infections in a non-Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (non-NICU) setting in a tertiary care hospital in India over 5 months. Thirteen cases of sepsis due to S. marcescens were identified in various Intensive Care Units (ICUs) over 5 months. Environmental surveillance identified isolates in the adult ICU (AICU). Antibiogram did not correlate with timeline. Sequencing libraries were prepared using Nextera XT chemistry (Illumina). Based on NGS, two clusters were identified. Cluster 1 had environmental and clinical isolates from the AICU and cluster 2 were isolates from the Coronary Care Unit (CCU). NICU and Paediatric ICU isolates did not belong to any cluster. Polyclonal outbreaks best identified by NGS can occur simultaneously. Good infection prevention practices like hand hygiene for compounded medicines and surface cleaning helped end the outbreak.