Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov;123(11):A281-6.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.123-A281.

Outbreak Breakthrough: Using Whole-Genome Sequencing to Control Hospital Infection

Carrie Arnold

Outbreak Breakthrough: Using Whole-Genome Sequencing to Control Hospital Infection

Carrie Arnold. Environ Health Perspect. 2015 Nov.
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
The level of detail provided by whole-genome sequencing could give hospitals the tools they need to stop outbreaks before they start. Background: © hxdbzxy/Shutterstock; E. coli O157:H7 genome map reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: doi:10.5923/s.microbiology.201401.02
None
Researchers conducted prospective surveillance of the bacteria found in one hospital’s intensive care units over the course of a year. WGS was performed on 1,229 bacterial isolates, revealing a number of novel bacterial species. Compared with conventional classification of species by phenotypic or biochemical qualities (indicated on the left side of each column above), WGS enables more detailed species-level classification (right side of each column). Source: Roach et al. (2015)
None
In their year-long surveillance, Stephen Salipante and colleagues demonstrated how bacterial clones (lineages of bacteria traceable to a single ancestor) moved between different intensive care units over time. They identified 22 distinct clones that were shared by multiple patients, each shown here in a separate color. The length of each bar indicates how long the patient was in the hospital, while the red arrowheads show when sampling occurred. Source: Roach et al. (2015)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. O’Shea MK.Acinetobacter in modern warfare. Int J Antimicrob Agents 395363–375.2012; 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2012.01.018 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Halachev MR, et al. Genomic epidemiology of a protracted hospital outbreak caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in Birmingham, England. Genome Med 61070.2014; 10.1186/s13073-014-0070-x - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gardy J, et al. Real-time digital pathogen surveillance—the time is now. Genome Biol 161155.2015; 10.1186/s13059-015-0726-x - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Qiu L, et al. Investigating the failure of repeated standard cleaning and disinfection of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa–infected pancreatic and biliary endoscope. Am J Infect Control 438e43–e46.2015; 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.04.204 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Eyre DW, et al. Diverse sources of C. difficile infection identified on whole-genome sequencing. New Engl J Med 369131195–1205.2013; 10.1056/NEJMoa1216064 - DOI - PMC - PubMed