Journal article
Bacterial colonization and succession in a newly opened hospital
Science translational medicine, Vol.9(391), eaah6500
05/24/2017
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aah6500
PMCID: PMC5706123
PMID: 28539477
Abstract
The microorganisms that inhabit hospitals may influence patient recovery and outcome, although the complexity and diversity of these bacterial communities can confound our ability to focus on potential pathogens in isolation. To develop a community-level understanding of how microorganisms colonize and move through the hospital environment, we characterized the bacterial dynamics among hospital surfaces, patients, and staff over the course of 1 year as a new hospital became operational. The bacteria in patient rooms, particularly on bedrails, consistently resembled the skin microbiota of the patient occupying the room. Bacterial communities on patients and room surfaces became increasingly similar over the course of a patient's stay. Temporal correlations in community structure demonstrated that patients initially acquired room-associated taxa that predated their stay but that their own microbial signatures began to influence the room community structure over time. The α- and β-diversity of patient skin samples were only weakly or nonsignificantly associated with clinical factors such as chemotherapy, antibiotic usage, and surgical recovery, and no factor except for ambulatory status affected microbial similarity between the microbiotas of a patient and their room. Metagenomic analyses revealed that genes conferring antimicrobial resistance were consistently more abundant on room surfaces than on the skin of the patients inhabiting those rooms. In addition, persistent unique genotypes of
and
were identified. Dynamic Bayesian network analysis suggested that hospital staff were more likely to be a source of bacteria on the skin of patients than the reverse but that there were no universal patterns of transmission across patient rooms.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Bacterial colonization and succession in a newly opened hospital
- Creators
- Simon Lax - University of ChicagoNaseer Sangwan - Argonne National LaboratoryDaniel Smith - Baylor College of MedicinePeter Larsen - Argonne National LaboratoryKim M Handley - University of ChicagoMiles Richardson - University of ChicagoKristina Guyton - University of ChicagoMonika Krezalek - University of ChicagoBenjamin D Shogan - University of ChicagoJennifer Defazio - University of ChicagoIrma Flemming - University of ChicagoBaddr Shakhsheer - University of ChicagoStephen Weber - University of ChicagoEmily Landon - University of ChicagoSylvia Garcia-Houchins - University of ChicagoJeffrey Siegel - University of TorontoJohn Alverdy - University of ChicagoRob Knight - University of California, San DiegoBrent Stephens - Illinois Institute of TechnologyJack A Gilbert - Argonne National Laboratory
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Science translational medicine, Vol.9(391), eaah6500
- DOI
- 10.1126/scitranslmed.aah6500
- PMID
- 28539477
- PMCID
- PMC5706123
- ISSN
- 1946-6234
- eISSN
- 1946-6242
- Grant note
- P30 DK042086 / NIDDK NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/24/2017
- Academic Unit
- Surgery
- Record Identifier
- 9984321866202771
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