Institute of Hygiene, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Aug 31;20(17):6692. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20176692.
Water systems in health care facilities can form reservoirs for Gram-negative bacteria. While planning a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), we performed a retrospective evaluation of potential risks from water-diverting systems on the existing NICU of our tertiary care University Hospital. During 2017 to 2023, we recorded nine nosocomial cluster events with bacterial pathogens in our NICU. Of these, three clusters of Gram-negative bacteria were potentially related to sink drains: A , a , and an cluster were uncovered by clinical routine screening of patients and breastmilk samples. They were confirmed using whole-genome sequencing and a subsequent core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) algorithm. Our observations highlight that the implementation of sink drains in a NICU may have negative effects on patients' safety. Construction planning should concentrate on the avoidance of washbasins in patient rooms when redesigning sensitive areas such as NICUs.
医疗机构的供水系统可能成为革兰氏阴性菌的蓄水池。在规划新的新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）时，我们对我们三级保健大学医院现有 NICU 的引水系统的潜在风险进行了回顾性评估。在 2017 年至 2023 年期间，我们记录了我们 NICU 中九起与细菌病原体有关的医院感染群集事件。其中，三个革兰氏阴性菌群集可能与水槽排水管有关：A 、a 和 an 群集通过对患者和母乳样本的临床常规筛查发现。使用全基因组测序和随后的核心基因组多位点序列分型（cgMLST）算法进行了确认。我们的观察结果表明，NICU 中水槽排水管的实施可能对患者的安全产生负面影响。在重新设计 NICU 等敏感区域时，建筑规划应集中精力避免在病房内设置洗脸盆。
