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
. 2019 Jun 4;16(11):1983.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16111983.

Occupational Infection Risk with Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Health Personnel-A Systematic Review

Claudia Peters  1 , Madeleine Dulon  2 , Albert Nienhaus  3   4 , Anja Schablon  5
Affiliations

Occupational Infection Risk with Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Health Personnel-A Systematic Review

Claudia Peters et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The increase in multi-drug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in the last years has become a public health problem. MDROs are partially responsible for numerous nosocomial infections, extended hospital stays, high costs, and high mortality. In addition to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Gram-negative bacteria are also a key area of focus. The knowledge of MDROs among the medical staff in the occupational context is limited, with the exception of MRSA. Therefore, a systematic review was carried out to determine the occupational risk for employees posed by MDROs. The search included studies from the year 2000 onwards among personnel who had contact with MDROs. A total of 22 primarily cross-sectional studies in hospital or geriatric care settings were found, with large differences regarding number of participants, examination method, inclusion of a control group, and study quality. The most frequently examined pathogens were extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria with a prevalence of 2.6-48.5%, VRE (0-9.6%), and MRSA (0.9-14.5%). There are only few qualitatively good studies available on MDROs' risk infection for employees in the health service. Any comparison of the results was limited by data heterogeneity. More research is required to describe the occupational risk of infection with MDROs.

Keywords: colonization; health personnel; multidrug-resistant organisms; occupational exposure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL) producers’ prevalence among hospital employees.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Oberdörfer H., Hübner C., Linder R., Fleßa S. Additional Costs for Care of Patients with Multi-Resistant Pathogens–An Analysis from the Perspective of a Statutory Health Insurance. Gesundheitswesen. 2015;77:854–860. - PubMed
    1. Koch A.M., Eriksen H.M., Elstrom P., Aavitsland P., Harthug S. Severe consequences of healthcare-associated infections among residents of nursing homes: A cohort study. J. Hosp. Infect. 2009;71:269–274. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2008.10.032. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Linder R., Thoms I., Pfenning I., Schadowski R., Mows V. The project HICARE: Cross-sectoral action alliance against multi-resistant pathogens. GMS Krankenhhyg. Interdiszip. 2011;6:25. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Noll I., Eckmanns T. Antibiotikaresistenz: Vergleich mit europäischen Daten. Dtsch. Arztebl. 2017;114:A2209–A2210.
    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control . Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance in Europe—Annual Report of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) 2017. ECDC; Stockholm, Sweden: 2018.

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances