High-tech toilets may spread multidrug-resistant bacteria in hospitals
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High-tech toilets at a Japanese hospital may be harboring and spreading multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, according to a study.
The findings were presented as part of the 2021 European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases virtual meeting.
“This is the first report of hospital transmissions associated with electric toilets and could have major implications for infection control," Itaru Nakamura, PhD, from Tokyo Medical University Hospital, said in a press release. "If water-jet nozzles are a source of hospital superbug cross-contamination, additional interventions such as modified hand hygiene practices and toilet disinfection protocols may be needed to stem the risk of transmission among health care providers and patients alike."
Nakamura and colleagues investigated multidrug-resistant bacteria recovered from the waterjet-nozzles of electric toilets in a hematology ward at the hospital between September 2020 and January 2021. According to the study, they made more than 10 visits to take samples from water-jet nozzles in electric toilets used by three patients with multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa (MDRP) infections, including two patients with severe sepsis.
The researchers used genetic fingerprinting techniques to determine whether strains of MDRP from the three infected patients were the same as environmental MDRP strains sampled from the toilet nozzles. Overall, they found the samples matched, with a strain called ST235 dominating in all the samples, suggesting that transfers to and from patients were happening.
“In short, our findings imply that multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa bacteria were being transmitted within the patient community, and critically that the infection may be spread within hospitals via contaminated electric toilet nozzles" Nakamura said in the release. "With good hospital hygiene, which includes hand-washing and environmental cleaning, we can control the spread of these pathogens, especially within settings where patients' immune systems are compromised."
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Nakamura I, et al. Nosocomial transmission of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa via the nozzles of electric toilets. Presented at ECCMID; July 9-12, 2021 (virtual meeting).
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