Increasing resistance due to the production of ESBL in Escherichia coli (ESBL-E. coli) has become a major threat to public health. Our aims were to study the incidence of ESBL-E. coli acquisition ...during hospitalization and the transmission rates of different ESBL-E. coli clones. This was a prospective case-control study, conducted in two geriatric rehabilitation wards in Tel-Aviv. Serial rectal cultures were collected from admission till discharge. All patient-unique ESBL-E. coli isolates were subjected to molecular typing by PFGE, MLST and determination of ESBL genes. An acquisition of ESBL-E. coli was defined as traceable when a patient with the same ST, PFGE type and ESBL gene was hospitalized in the same ward in parallel to the acquisition case. ESBL-E. colis were recovered from 125 patients out of 492 enrolled: 52 were recovered upon admission, 59 acquired ESBL-E. coli during their stay, and there was undetermined status in 14 patients. A low Norton's score was associated with acquisition (O.R. 1.14 for each point, 95% C.I. 1.01–1.29, p < 0.05). ESBL-E. coli infections (n = 9) had occurred only in ESBL-E. coli carriers. The pandemic ST131 clone was the most common (48/125). The majority of the isolates (101/125) produced CTX-M-type ESBL. Of the 59 acquisition cases, 32 were traced to another patient. In-hospital dissemination was highest in the CTX-M-27-producing ST131 and the SHV-5-producing ST372 sub-clones (acquisition/admission ratios of 17/11 and 9/3, respectively), with almost all cases traced to other patients. In conclusion, most ESBL-E. coli acquisition cases were traceable to other patients. The transmission potential varied significantly between ESBL-E. coli clones.
More than 75,000 displaced Ethiopians have moved to Israel. Tuberculosis (TB) incidence in Ethiopia is 44 times higher than in Israel (344 versus 8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively). The ...aims of the present retrospective cohort study were to evaluate the pre-immigration screening process initiated in 2001 on pulmonary TB (PTB) morbidity and to assess its cost-effectiveness. Ethiopian immigrants who were screened before departure (study group) were compared with those who were screened after arrival (comparison group). Between 1998 and 2005, 24,051 Ethiopian immigrants arrived in Israel. PTB was diagnosed in 332 (1.4%) immigrants, an incidence density of 325 patients per 100,000 person-yrs. PTB cumulative incidence was lower in the study group than in the comparison group: 711 compared with 1,746 patients per 100,000 immigrants, respectively (rate ratio 0.4). PTB was detected significantly earlier in the study group than in the comparison group: 193 versus 487 days after entry, respectively. Disease incidence declined significantly during the first 2 yrs following immigration. A 5-yr predictive model indicated that 98 individuals would be free of PTB, saving US$91,055 on annual treatment cost, due to screening. The pre-immigration screening process reduced pulmonary tuberculosis incidence in subsequent years following immigration. Pulmonary tuberculosis was diagnosed earlier in the screened group than in the comparison group and the process was found to be both cost-beneficial and cost-effective.
Patients newly admitted to rehabilitation centres are at high risk of colonization with multidrug-resistant bacteria because many of them have experienced prolonged stays in other healthcare settings ...and have had high exposure to antibiotics. We conducted a prospective study to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for colonization with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) in this population. Subjects were screened by rectal swab for ESBL-PE within 2 days of admission. Swabs were plated on chromagar ESBL plates and the presence of ESBL was verified by a central laboratory. A multilevel mixed effects model was used to identify risk factors for ESBL-PE colonization. Of 2873 patients screened, 748 (26.0%) were positive for ESBL-PE. The variables identified as independently associated with ESBL-PE colonization were: recent stay in an acute-care hospital for over 2 weeks (OR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.12, 1.6), history of colonization with ESBL-PE (OR = 2.97; 95% CI, 1.99, 4.43), unconsciousness on admission (OR = 2.59; 95% CI, 1.55, 4.34), surgery or invasive procedure in the past year (OR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.2, 1.86) and antibiotic treatment in the past month (OR = 1.80; 95% CI, 1.45, 2.22). The predictive accuracy of the model was low (area under the ROC curve 0.656). These results indicate that ESBL-PE colonization is common upon admission to rehabilitation centres. Some risk factors for ESBL-PE colonization are similar to those described previously; however, newly identified factors may be specific to rehabilitation populations. The high prevalence and low ability to stratify by risk factors may guide infection control and empirical treatment strategies in rehabilitation settings.
The study aims were: (i) to define the prevalence of and risk factors for colonization by extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) -producing Enterobacteriaceae (EPE) among healthcare workers (HCWs) and ...family members (FMs) of EPE-colonized patients in rehabilitation units and (ii) to compare EPE isolates from these three groups. The study included 286 FMs of 194 EPE-carrying patients identified in five rehabilitation units located in Israel, Italy, France and Spain. The EPE were detected in rectal swabs from 26 (9%) of 286 FMs screened. In multivariate analyses, older age of FM, greater mean number of hours spent with the patient, being a daughter or a female spouse of a patient, and chronic lung disease of the patient were significantly associated with carriage in the FM. Escherichia coli was the most common organism (76%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (19%). Isolates were typed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing, and ESBLs were identified by PCR sequencing. A comparison of paired species isolates from FMs and their respective patient showed that 17 of 23 strains were indistinguishable. EPE were detected in 35 (3.5%, E. coli = 34) of the 1001 HCWs screened. Feeding patients was associated with EPE carriage by HCWs. Only 7 of 23 E. coli subclones cultured from HCWs were also represented among 376 patient-derived ESBL-producing E. coli isolates from the same rehabilitation units. In Spain, a higher proportion of HCWs and FMs were ESBL carriers than elsewhere (p <0.05). In conclusion, the molecular and epidemiological data suggest that FMs are at higher risk of EPE acquisition from their relative patients than HCWs.
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•We present a new methodology for RTS (Rapid Transit System) planning and alignment.•We focus on Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area RTS alignment.•We apply space syntax syntactical measures ...to analyze RTS road alignment.•The RTS alignment is congruent with segments of high through-movement potential.•We emphasize the capacity and relative quickness for RTS impact assessment.
This paper presents a technique aimed to assist in planning of surface rapid transit alignment in a metropolitan area by applying space syntax configurational approach. The technique proposed in this study was applied to the proposed surface rapid transit network for the Metropolitan Area of Tel Aviv. For this research a bi-modal model of the spatial structure, which includes the street network as well as the planned rapid transit routes, was analyzed. The results show that that a substantial share of the network’s alignment can be described solely by measuring through-movement potentials. This finding demonstrates the significant role of spatial accessibility analysis in transit planning. Consequently, this study provides a reproducible methodology for identifying the routes which hold the highest potential to serve as strategic movement corridors at a metropolitan scale, thus improving current RTS (Rapid Transit System) planning practice.
This study aimed to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage among patients newly admitted to rehabilitation centres. It is a ...prospective study examining MRSA carriage on admission to seven rehabilitation wards in four countries. Risk factors for MRSA carriage were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses. A total of 1204 patients were studied. Among them, 105 (8.7%) had a positive admission MRSA screening result. The MRSA carriers were more likely to be male, to have had a recent stay in another long-term-care facility or >2 weeks acute-care hospital stay, history of colonization with MRSA, reduced level of consciousness, peripheral vascular disease and pressure sores. In multivariable logistic regression male gender (odds ratio (OR) 2.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-3.6, p 0.001), history of MRSA positivity (OR 6.8, 95% CI 3.8-12.3, p <0.001), peripheral vascular disease (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.2-5, p 0.013), recent stay in another long-term-care facility (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.3-3.5, p 0.004), or long (>2 weeks) acute-care hospital stay (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2-3, p 0.004), remained significant risk factors for MRSA carriage. MRSA carriage is common on admission to rehabilitation centres but less so, than previously described in long-term-care facilities. Male gender, history of MRSA positivity, previous hospitalization and peripheral vascular disease may predict MRSA carriage, and may serve as indicators for using pre-emptive infection control measures.
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