E. Meningoseptica

Previously known as Flavobacterium meningosepticum, and more recently as Chryseobacterium meningosepticum, Elizabethkingia meningoseptica is a gram-negative bacterium found in soil and water. Although it is rarely isolated from clinical specimens, this organism is resistant to several classes of antimicrobials and is capable of causing infection in blood, cerebrospinal fluid, skin and soft tissue, the respiratory system, and other body sites. Nosocomial transmission of E. meningoseptica among immunocompromised adults in intensive care units has been reported. Further, long-term acute care hospitals with mechanically ventilated patients could serve as an important transmission setting for E. meningoseptica. This multidrug-resistant bacterium could pose additional risk when patients are transferred between long-term acute care facilities and other hospitals.

Please articulate and reinforce your established policies of infection control: handwashing and disinfection practices, isolation policies, the use of gowns and gloves, the proper disposal of body fluids and body fluid– contaminated items, and the use of sterile water for cleaning of respiratory equipment and any other devices that come into contact with mucous membranes or nonintact skin of patients. Additionally, adherence to the current CDC guidelines for prevention of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is important for reducing these types of infections in the long-term acute care facility.

References:

Weaver, KN et al. Acute Emergence of Elizabethkingia meningoseptica Infection among Mechanically Ventilated Patients in a Long-Term Acute Care Facility. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 2010, Vol. 31 (No. 1), pp. 54-58.

Walkey, AJ et al. Epidemiology of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 2009, Vol. 30 (No. 4), pp 319-324.

Tablan OC, et al.; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Guidelines for preventing health-care–associated pneumonia, 2003: recommendations of CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. MMWR Recomm Rep 2004; 53(RR-3):1-36.

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