“Candida auris outbreak linked to multi-use thermometers in UK ICU”
“Researchers examined one of the largest outbreaks of the emerging drug-resistant fungal pathogen C. auris to date. The outbreak occurred in Oxford University Hospitals’ Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the United Kingdom. In investigating the possible source of the outbreak, researchers found a major source for spreading the fungus was multi-use patient monitoring equipment, such as axillary thermometers, those used to measure temperature in the armpit. These thermometers had been used in 57 of the 66 patients, or 86%, who had been admitted to the NICU before being diagnosed with C. auris. Use of these thermometers was still a strong risk factor for having C. auris after the research team controlled for other factors, such as how long a patient remained in the NICU, how unwell a patient was and their blood tests. Presenting author Dr David Eyre from the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford said: “Despite a bundle of infection control interventions, the outbreak was only controlled following removal of the temperature probes.”
Source: Outbreak News Today