By
Hospital toilet basins pose the greatest risk of spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This information has been reported in a research paper published in the American of Infection Control (AJIC).
The report is based on a multispecies outbreak of the superbug carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in a pediatric ward at Toho University Omori Medical Center in Tokyo in 2017.
The first case of CPE was identified in June 2016 in a one-year-old child with a heart attack, the research team detailed. Nine months later, in March 2017, a 15-year-old teenager became the second person to contract the superbug, or drug-resistant bacteria. The bacteria subsequently spread to 19 other pediatric patients. The investigation identified 9 basins in the hospital as contaminated with bacteria. Of these, 6 were from hospital rooms of CPE positive patients and 3 were from the nurse center, a waste room and an ice machine.
The researchers also reported that superbugs were still present after all basin changes in the pediatric ward were thoroughly disinfected with hydrogen peroxide. DNA analysis has shown that within hospitals, one bacterial species can develop drug resistance among themselves through another.
The research team said, 'The discovery of the same bacterial species in the basins of adjacent rooms suggests that the transmission of bacteria from one basin to another through drains and connected pipes may be possible.'
