Keep the hospital dive. A new study this week shows that these sewers can be a common source of scary, drug-resistant pathogens, even after deep cleaning.
Researchers at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain led the study, Issued Friday in Boundaries in microbiology. They analyzed bacteria collected from sewers around a single, well -run hospital and discovered a rich diversity of annoying microbes, including superbugs, which can withstand several antibiotics at once. The findings suggest that causing the spread of these bacteria in hospitals is even more difficult than expected, the researchers say.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing public health issues of our time. It is already rated That these infections kill at least 1.27 million people worldwide annually, including 35,000 Americans a year. And studies have Projected This drug-resistant bacterium will eventually match or even exceed the current annual death toll (about 10 million deaths a year) in the following decades.
Hospitals and other health care facilities are common breeding grounds of antibiotic resistance for several reasons. Antimicrobies are widely used in these areas, directly feeding resistance. Patients are also in poorer health than usual, facilitating infections to thrive and spread like a wilderness among humans. Considering these well -known risks, hospitals and their employees routinely take steps to mitigate antibiotic resistance, which often includes deep cleansing areas where bacteria can remain, like lead systems and sinks.
The researchers wanted to test how effective these protective measures are. They analyzed sink drains from one university hospital on the island of Majorca, which was built in 2001. According to the researchers, the hospital routinely cleans their sins and sewers with Blanke. Its pipe with chlorine once a year.
From February 2022 to February 2023, they collected (using cotton sweats) and genetically sequenced bacterial specimens of six washbasins in five sections: two of ICU units, one for hematology, short stays and general medicine; and a microbiological laboratory.
They are said to have identified 67 different bacterial species from the sewers. While there were some differences between the sections, all sewers contained a wide range of bacteria, including the newer ICU unit, which started the previous year. The researchers have also isolated bacteria stress jointly associated with major hospital infections, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa,, Klebsiella pneumoniaeand Staphylococcus Aureus. And although there were EBB and currents in the types of bacteria found in these sewers throughout the year, the cleaning procedures used by the hospital did not seem to impact much on their general diversity.
“Here we show that hospital deepening host bacterial populations that change over time, despite impeccable cleaning protocols in the particular hospital we were watching,” said senior researcher Margarita Gomila, a professor at the University of the University of the Balearic Islands Fronts, publishers of the study. “The bacteria we found can be from many sources, from patients, medical staff and even the environment surrounding the hospital. Once established in washcloths, they can spread out, presenting significant risks to immuno -compromised patients mainly.”
The researchers further found that most specimens contain at least some bacteria that were immune from multiple antibiotics, including stresses of P. aeruginosa And K. pneumoniae. In some bacteria, they have also identified a caring gene, which promotes resistance to carbonpenems, a newer class of antibiotics often used as a last resource -treatment for infections that have stopped responding to other drugs.
Obviously, the researchers do not say that hospitals should stop cleaning their sinks. But considering how well these bacteria thrive even in the face of deep cleansing, it is clear that one has to do more to stop or at least slow down the proliferation of super buses in these risky environments.
“Cleaning protocols are important and must be applied often, especially in guards, which are particularly preserved to slow down the spread of potentially harmful bacteria. But to get to the bottom of the problem, it is necessary to study the source of these bacteria and their delivery routes, “said chief researcher José Laço, a doctor in Gomila’s lab, in a statement.
