Communication among health care facilities key to preventing spread of drug-resistant bacteria
The OSU/OHSU College of Pharmacy teamed with the Oregon Health Authority and other collaborators on a two-year study of Acinetobacter baumannii, an opportunistic pathogen associated primarily with infections among patients who have compromised immune systems and are in health care facilities. Looking at multiple sites in the Pacific Northwest, the scientists identified 21 cases, including 16 isolates of A. baumannii that contained a rare gene responsible for resistance to the carbapenem class of antibiotics. The patients' transfer history among the studied facilities and the isolates' genetic profiles illustrated how the organism spread from place to place, aided by a lack of interfacility communication that patients who were infected or colonized by A. baummanii were being transferred. Jon Furuno, co-author on the study and an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, noted that the findings support a recent Oregon law requiring written notification from the ...