title: Comparison of Two Culture Methods for Use in Assessing Microbial Contamination of Duodenoscopes.
abstract: Recent outbreaks of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections associated with duodenoscopes used for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography have highlighted the challenge of cleaning and high-level disinfection of these instruments. The Food and Drug Administration has suggested that duodenoscope surveillance by microbiological culturing, along with strict adherence to reprocessing protocols, may help reduce the risk of duodenoscope-associated infection transmission. We developed and validated an effective, user-friendly duodenoscope sampling and culture protocol and compared its performance to the interim Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended guidelines. Our protocol resulted in a 65% recovery rate for Gram-negative organisms, demonstrating a 2-fold increased recovery rate compared to the CDC method. The implementation of this protocol may increase the feasibility of duodenoscope surveillance for microbiology laboratories and endoscopy departments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah, USA michaela.gazdik@imail.org.
authors.forename: Michaela A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gazdik
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coombs
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah, USA Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah, USA Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Bert K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Lopansri
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde / Q000379:methods; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D020698:Duodenoscopes / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans