Introduction

Methodology

Risk Factors for Outbreak

Strategies

IPC strategies are multiple and synergic. All variables that are worth considering in the purpose of a successful infection control process are reported below. They include patient-to- nurse ratio (PNR), patient-to-intensivist ratio (PIR), healthcare staff education, isolation types, MRDOs decolonization, hand hygiene, shoe hygiene, screening, environmental cleaning, antimicrobial stewardship program, outbreak reporting, special populations, cost-effectiveness and R₀, new experimented strategies, and future perspectives. The quality of evidence and strength of these practices according to the pathogen are listed in ESCMID guidelines for Infection Control 2014 [9]. To our knowledge, no further updates have been published of these guidelines.

• NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIO

There is solid literature and strong guidelines regarding the patient to nurse ratio (PNR) (Table 2). This ratio should be 1 : 1 or 1 : 2, according to the kind of ICU. Several international organizations have stated that in ICU setting every patient must have immediate access to an ICU specialist nurse, suggesting a PNR of 1:1.

2.

PHYSICIAN/PATIENT RATIO

Currently there is no clear recommendation on the patient to intensivist ratio (PIR) by actual guidelines (Table 3). Five studies have been published on this topic before Jeremy M. Kahn et al. tried in 2023 to give an answer to this question with a multicenter cohort study on 29 ICUs in 10 hospitals in the United States of America [39]. They failed to find an association between a higher intensivist-to-patient ratio and higher mortality.

Neuraz et al. in 2015 were the first to find an association with PIR, namely a two-fold increase in shift-specific mortality among French ICU patients cared for by doctors with > 14 vs < 8 patients [40]. Moreover, Gershengorn HB et al. in 2017 conducted a similar study in United Kingdom, finding a positive association between PIR (patient-to-intensivist ratio) and ICU patients mortality also among British ICU patients [41]. Five years later, Georgshengorn et al. repeated the study on Australian and New Zeland ICUs, but no association with PIR was found [42].

Furthermore, studies conducted on this topic in the USA always failed to find an association between PIR and ICU mortality.

However, as Kerlin MP and Caruso P. stated in their paper and also Kahn et al. pointed out, all the five studies that preceded their one suffer from several methodological limitations [39,43]. For instance, they took into consideration intensivist-to-patient ratios averaged over the length of the entire ICU stay, overlooking that ICU census changes day by day and that could obscure daily variations that could influence outcomes. Moreover, they generally extrapolated intensivist-to-patient ratios from ICU census data, neglecting that intensivists may provide care in multiple ICUs within a single day. Additionally, in all these studies intensivists were in the majority Anesthesiologists/Intensivists, but many other specialists, ranging from 10% to 30% approximately, belonged to different medical specialties.

3.

EDUCATION

Beyond nurse- and physician-to patient rations, HCW education on IPC is what affects the most infectious diseases transmission and relative associated mortality.

Therefore, not only nurses, but all healthcare personnel (physicians, healthcare workers, medical and nursing students, cleaning staff) [48] should undergo an “IPC course” as soon as they are hired by the hospital, just before taking an active part in ward activities [49,50]. Furthermore, a “refresh IPC course” periodically, established by hospital protocols, not inferior to once per year (or per month, according to local epidemiology). The frequency of the “refresh IPC course” should be rapidly implemented in case of an outbreak [51].

IPC courses should provide information on pathogens’ transmission, isolation and hand hygiene instructions, and a practical simulation of the procedures. An initial and final practice test should be performed in order to verify the effectiveness of the course and awareness achieved among the healthcare personnel.

The Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) group elaborated a seven-items educational model to enhance the uptake of educational contents (Box.2).

Nowadays IPC educational and training programs, when present, differ consistently among WHO countries [53], rarely provided by academic institutions, and frequently practicing IPC physicians are not specialized in infectious disease or clinical microbiology [53]. WHO latest guidelines on core components of IPC programmes [48] (Box.3) suggest a different and targeted training for each of the identified three categories of HCW: IPC specialists, HCW involved in patients care (i.e., nurses, health care assistants), and auxiliary personnel (cleaning, administrative and managerial staff). No standardized, universal, pragmatic education protocol has been elaborated so far, so we reported some of valuable examples (Table 4).

4.

ISOLATION

Isolation of the colonized/infected patient is a key moment for infection control [9]. Without isolation, the others IPC approaches may be not sufficient.

According to ESCMID guidelines of 2014, precautionary isolation for recently-admitted patients in ICU should be always performed in order to avoid the uprise of infection clusters among ICU patients and staff, and further hospital clusters [9]. Isolation should be discontinued only after the negative result of screening procedures (see SCREENING section).

Isolation rooms are preferably single rooms whenever possible. It is mandatory to provide a single room in case of neutropenic patients or specific airborne diseases (measles, varicella virus, tuberculosis) [26].

There are three kinds of isolation: contact isolation, respiratory isolation, or both.

The kind of isolation that should be adopted varies depending on where the pathogen was isolated.

Contact Isolation

Contact isolation is required every time a skin or rectal samples (swabs) result positive for a potential direct or indirect contact transmitted pathogen for human being, especially MDROs (multi-drug resistant organisms) [26]. That include all resistance acquirable through plasmid transmission, among others ESBL (Extended-Spectrum Beta-lactamase) resistance [26]. Such pathogens were listed in Table 1.

Contact isolation is also required in case of diagnosis of particular diseases known for being transmitted also by contact (i.e., Ebola).

Contact isolation is mandatory for both infected and colonized patients by these organisms [9,26]. CRE rectal colonization could last up to one year [61], while VRE’s for approximately 6 months [62]. MRSA skin colonization has been reported to be in average 9 months [63,64,65], older age is associated with a longer duration of colonization for both MRSA [63] and CRE.

5.

MDROs DECOLONIZATION

Although the eradication of the pathogen could possibly serve to prevent both further transmission and infection development [66], is not currently recommended.

Gram Negative Bacteria (GNB)

There is no recommendation in favor or against routine MDR-GNB decolonization in ICU patients by actual guidelines.

In general patients, ESCMID-EUCIC guidelines do not recommend routine decolonization of 3GCephRE and CRE carriers, though they do not extend this statement to immunocompromised (e.g., ICU, neutropenic or transplanted patients) as only few studies have been conducted on this population. Its effectiveness and long-term side effects are encouraged to be assessed through appropriate RCTs (randomized control trials) [67].

However, several recent studies suggest an increased risk of CRE infection development in CRE colonized ICU patients [68,69,70,71] and satisfactory rates of decolonization effectiveness [72,73].

For CRAB (carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii), AGRE (aminoglycoside-resistant Enterobacteriaceae), CoRGNB (colistin-resistant Gram-negative organisms), CRSM (cotrimoxazole-resistant Stenotrophomonas maltophilia), FQRE (fluoroquinolone-resistant Enterobacteriaceae), PDRGNB (pan-drug-resistant Gram-negative organisms), and XDRPA (extremely drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa) carriers the evidence is still limited and no recommendation have been proposed neither for ICU nor for non-ICU carriers [67].

Gram Positive Bacteria (GPB)

To our knowledge, MRSA decolonization with intranasal mupirocin and chlorhexidine bathing is not explicitly recommended by any guidelines [12], except for those on an orthopedic or cardio- surgery waiting list [74]. Still, there are many evidences that systemic screening followed by decolonization of MRSA in all ICU patients (universal approach), decreases the incidence of MRSA colonization or infection up to 52% [75]. In fact, SHEA/IDSA/APIC guidelines highlight that active surveillance with contact precautions is inferior to universal decolonization in reducing MRSA isolation in adult ICUs [12] (REDUCE MRSA Trial) [76] and universal decolonization with daily CHG bathing plus 5 days of nasal decolonization should be performed in this setting to reduce endemic MRSA clinical cultures [12] (quality of evidence: high). Therefore, endemic status should be assessed. Predictors of decolonization failure, could be the respiratory tract colonization [77], younger age (0-17 years) [66], refugee status [66] and having one or more comorbidities [66], who would possibly need different decolonization strategies.

However, physicians should bear in mind that MRSA colonization is associated with a 4-fold increase in the risk of MRSA infection development [78]. More than 50% of MRSA colonized patients develop the infection in ICU setting [79] and MRSA colonization is also associated to an increase in hospital admission, with further consequent possible transmission and outbreak development [80].

As far as we know, no guidelines have been elaborated on VRE decolonization indications or practice. That was probably due to the scarcity of studies conducted on this topic so far. Some studies on MRSA decolonization, showed that chlorhexidine bathing could be effective in reducing VRE acquisition and infection development too [12]. Cheng et al. obtained VRE decolonization applying a combination of polyethylene glycol for bowel preparation, a five-day course of oral absorbable linezolid and non-absorbable daptomycin to suppress any remaining VRE, and subsequent oral Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, beyond environmental cleaning and isolation [81]. A non-antibiotic decolonization protocol for both VRE and CRE have been recently proposed by Choi et al. consisting in a 4-items bundle: using a glycerin enema for mechanical evacuation, daily lactobacillus ingestion for restoration of normal gut flora, chlorhexidine bath, and bed sheets and clothing changed every day [82]. Both proposed protocols need to be experimented in further studies to assess their efficacy, but firstly, studies on VRE decolonization benefits should be conducted.

Candida Auris (CA)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the efficacy of Candida auris decolonization is not known [83]. Chlorhexidine or topical antifungals have been proposed empirically, but evidences are still scares.

Candida auris is nowadays the biggest emergent threat in USA and European ICU as, contrarily to other MRDOs, no antifungal, single or in combination, have shown solid efficacy. Thus, IPC measures are the best available weapon. Beyond ECDC in-hospital hygiene recommendations, contact tracking, single-room contact isolation, surveillance though periodic skin-swab testing of the healthcare personnel, co-hospitalised patients, and cohabitants who came in contact with the C. auris carrier, could result to be effective in tackling C. auris spreading.

6.

HAND HYGIENE

Hand hygiene (HH) is crucial for infection control. According to WHO recommendations, hand hygiene should be performed passing from one patient to another in all settings regardless the presence of an ongoing infection or colonization.

WHO recommendations on HH are based on two rules: the six movements and the five moments of hand hygiene [59].

Healthcare staff cannot exempt itself from knowing these rules and put them into practice as per the strong evidence these practices have shown.

It has been proved that appropriate HH is associated with a reduction of HAI incidence up to 50% [84], including a 50% reduction in MRSA infections.

Although the success rate in preventing HAI development and spreading declared by WHO, a systematic review conducted by Kathryn Ann Lambe and colleagues in 2019 enhanced that mean HH compliance was only 59.6% in adult ICU, ranging from 64.4% of high-income countries to 9.1% of low-income countries. This percentage also varies in consideration to the type of ICU (neonatal 67.0%, pediatric 41.2%, adult 58.2%) and the type of healthcare workers (nurses 43.4%, physicians 32.6%, others 53.8%) [85].

A Brazilian study esteemed that with a 20-second manipulation of a without adhering to contact precautions, there was a 45% possibility that HCW (healthcare worker) hands got contaminated with a CRE. After shaking hands with this HCW, the possibility to get contaminated likewise was of 22% [86]. If the first HCW had used gown and gloves or would have washed his hands, that would have been respectively 10% and 0% [86].

In case of outbreak, it would be useful to implement compliance with direct observations of the “five moments” performed by healthcare workers followed by individualized verbal feedback [51].

7.

SHOE HYGIENE (SH)

Shoe soles represent a potential vector for pathogen transmission [87]. As well as hand-hygiene, HCW shoe bottoms can carry pathogens from an environment to another. Therefore, decontamination in needed when passing from a patient to another, especially when MDRO carrier. Rashid et al. conducted a systematic review looking for an effective decontamination strategy for shoe soles in 2016, but did not succeed. This was also due to the scarcity of data present on this topic. Among mechanical strategies, the use of shoe covers or disposable boots seemed to be the most effective in reducing bacterial load in sanitary setting, while adhesive mats proved to be ineffective [87]. Among chemical strategies, tanks or adhesive mats supplemented with 3-1 benzoisothiazolin or 0.2% benzylkonium were able to reduce bacterial load [87]. Also treating boots with peroxygen disinfectant reduces bacterial load up to 1.4 log₁₀.Boot baths with 6% sodium hypochlorite seems to prevent virus transmission [88].

On a par with HCW shoes, all HCW equipment including badges, stethoscopes, oximeters, ultrasonography probe, but also smartphones, should be disinfected with antiseptics such as chlorhexidine and benzalkonium, although MDR-efflux pump QAC carriers or GNB could be resistant [89].

8.

SCREENING

Key points for MDROs screening are summarized in Box.4.

• Risk-assessment scores

Risk-assessment scores (Table 5) could be applied at admission and recalculated daily in order to foresee the risk of colonization acquisition and/or infection. Hereby, HCW can promptly put into practice the consequential IPC measures.

To our knowledge, no definitive colonization score was elaborated so far for CRAB and CRPA, although Dalben et al. identified some colonization risk factors for their acquisition in ICU: male sex, surgery prior to admission, APACHE II score and colonization pressure in the week before an outcome [90]. Tacconelli et al. identified some others risk factors for CRAB colonization and infection development, such as quinolones use [91]. Meschiari et al. identified as independent risk factors the use of permanent devices, mechanical ventilation, urinary catheters, McCabe score, length of stay, and carbapenem use for CRAB colonization acquisition in ICU setting [92].

b.

CRAB screening

Actually, there is no consensus on CRAB active screening strategies [9]. Garnacho-Montero J et al recommend weekly rectal, pharyngeal, and tracheal swabs [105]. Valencia-Martìn et al. found a sensitivity of 96% combining rectal and pharyngeal swabs compared to 78% of rectal swab only [106]. Different values, but same conclusion were drawn by Nutman et al.: 94% sensitivity combining buccal mucosa, skin, and rectal swabs compared to 74% rectal swab only [107]. They also found that the most sensible swab was the buccal mucosa for respiratory culture-positive patients and the skin swab for respiratory-negative patients. Meschiari et al. found that skin samples (100%), followed by the rectal samples (86%) showed the best sensitivity, but due to the waiting period to receive screening test they suggested adopting contact precautions measures to all ICU patients until outbreak end [51].

c.

Rectal screening for carbapenem resistant Gram negative bacteria (CR- GNB)

This screening should be performed at ICU admission and repeated at least once a week according to local epidemiology [9,108]. In order to promptly identify CR-GNB rectal colonized or CR-GNB infected patient, an active surveillance system involving the microbiology laboratory and infection control staff should be implemented [109].

Contact precautions should be adopted, including [9,108,109]:

- Single-use gloves and gowns wearing during assistance (worn at the moment of entering in the room of the CR-GNB colonized patient and removed at the moment of quitting the patient’s room)

- Gloves and gowns should be used individually for every CR-GNB colonized patient, since the CR-GNB could vary for species and resistance profile

- Gloves and gowns should be changed according to the WHO guidelines in the ‘Five moments’ and ‘six movements’ [59].

d.

Skin screening for MRSA

As for rectal screening, the skin screening should be performed at admission and repeated at least weekly in ICU [110]. Other situations in which active screening is encouraged are: preoperatively, upon initiating dialysis, at admission to a particular unit, or upon identifying a potential outbreak [110]. Swab samples should be collected in nostrils, throat, and perineum. Other sites could include be wound, sputum or eyes. [66]

e.

Environmental samples surveillance

Environmental samples should be collected according to the CDC Environmental Checklist for Monitoring Terminal Cleaning is order to prevent the spreading of CR-GNB and other dangerous microorganisms, paying particular attention to high-touch surfaces [111](see the Cleaning section).

Environmental samples should be collected with sterile BHI moistened gauze, as normal swabs revealed a low sensitivity for Acinetobacter baumanii (0 to 18%) [51,112].

f.

Whole genome sequencing (WGS)

Genomic characterization of CR-GNB could be useful to identify putative transmission chains [113] and to stratify patients [51]. For instance, lately, non-functional adeN was found to be associated with an increased virulence and hyper invasiveness [114]. In Meschiari et al. study [51] only two patients who acquired a CRAB clone with inactivation of adeN survived, probably because of a younger age and better immune status. Their hypothesis was that the inactivation of adeN could have contributed to higher mortality rates of their outbreak, similarly to other studies [115,116,117], despite appropriate therapy with cefiderocol.

9.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANING

The room and bed cleaning are essential for IPC in ICU. For this reason, the cleaning should be standardized with a hospital protocol and realized on a routine basis or when a patient is moved or discharged from the room (ie, terminal cleaning). In the protocol, environmental service personnel training, use of checklists, and/or monitoring of ‘high-touch’ contact surfaces with healthcare workers’ hands should be provided [111].

The ICU cleaning encloses both surfaces and air cleaning.

Surfaces Cleaning

The cleaning, including the isolation rooms and the open space areas, should be performed with 10% sodium hypochlorite for environmental surfaces and hydrogen peroxide wipes for all medical devices. This has also proved to be effective against C. auris contamination [120,121].

It should be performed on all surfaces, particularly focused on the most ‘High-touch’ surfaces [111], defined by Kisk Huslage et al. in 2015 as sustaining more than 3 contacts per interaction with the patient [111]. Among the 109 ICU surfaces studied, three were identified as ‘high touch surfaces, namely the bed rail, the bed surface, and the supply cart. These 3 surfaces accounted for 40.2% of the contacts recorded in the ICUs. Considering the medical-surgical floor, the ‘high touch’ surfaces, defined as sustaining more than 1 contacts per interaction, were: the bed rail, the over-bed table, the intravenous pump, and the bed surface (48.6% of all contacts with medical-surgical floors). In the same study, appeared that Bed rails had the highest frequency of contact in both types of healthcare settings, accounting for 7.76 contacts per interaction in the ICUs [111].

Anyway, in order to write the hospital protocol, a local assessment of which are the ‘high-touch’ surfaces should be performed and integrated with above-mentioned data.

Of course, the protocol must take into consideration the concentration and type of pathogens found on the specific environmental surfaces, to address the best kind of disinfection.

Several studies demonstrated that standard cleaning with self-monitoring is insufficient to control the CRAB environmental spread [51,122]. This information becomes more relevant considering that environmental contamination seems to be the most frequent source of CRAB cross-transmission in ICU [51,122,123].

Moreover, Carling PC et al. highlighted that less than 50% of standardized environmental surfaces have been cleaned during the terminal room cleaning [124].

The cleaning process should not only follow the CDC Environmental Checklist for Monitoring Terminal Cleaning guidelines [125], but also put into practice the Meschiari ‘cycling radical cleaning and disinfection’ from ‘five-component bundle’ protocol [51]. Environmental contamination appeared to represent the most frequent source

Recently, “No-touch” cleaning methods have been developed, including UV cleaning, and pressurized hydrogen peroxide. Although being effective, they tend to be not well-tolerated, expensive, and limitedly practical, as they require hours before the room being ready for a new patient [126,127]. This makes the cycling radical cleaning and disinfection method [51] preferable as faster, easy to use and cost-effective.

10.

ANTIMICROBIAL STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM

IPC in ICU setting is the result of a teamwork [128,129,130]and effective communication [131]. Beyond ICU personnel (doctors, nurses, HCWs), four key roles are needed to perform the antimicrobial stewardship: the infectious diseases’ specialist (IDS) [132], the clinical microbiologist [132,133], and the clinical pharmacology specialist [134].

In case no protocol has been elaborated at facility level, the IDS should be consulted [135]:

- Whenever an infectious disease is suspected;

- When the patient presents fever;

- Whenever a new cultural or serological positivity is released by the microbiological laboratory;

- For antimicrobic therapies initiation, monitoring, and discontinuation.

Adherence to IDS recommendations by the treating doctor has been proved to be of paramount importance for disease progression and outcome, also in terms of mortality [136,137].

The timing of specialists’ consultation is essential, and a proactive compared to an event-triggered approach would be preferrable [132]. In this regard, Zwerwer et al. recently managed to develop a machine-learning model able to predict infection-related consultations in ICUs up to eight hours in advance based on electronic health records [132].

The IDS should perform at least the first consultation for every patient at bedside, visiting the patient [138]. The IDS should visit the patient every time an important clinical change is present. According to the number and severity of patients suffering from bacterial, virological or fungine infection, a minimum number of weekly visits should be planned [135].

Although many studies witness the commonly inappropriate prescription of those antibiotics identified as ‘Reserve antibiotics’ in WHO AWaRe antibiotic book [139] worldwide, no exclusivity to IDS prescribers have been established [140].

For hospitals without IDS services, Zimmermann et colleagues are currently conducting a trial with the purpose to identify means to comprehensively and sustainably improve the quality of care of patients with infectious diseases in those settings (trial registration: DRKS00023710) [141].

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) remains pivotal and complementary to IPC in fighting antimicrobial resistance.

11.

OUTBREAK REPORTING

Manuscripts on IPC are mainly conducted during outbreaks. The main limitation of this kind of literature is that is scares and frequently different risk factors are taken into consideration from a study to another [4].

Another limitation is that a universal outbreak definition is lacking [26,142]. One of the most accurate definition list for different pathogens’ outbreak is the one offered by the Division of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, West Virginia, USA [5].

The ORION statement (Outbreak Reports and Intervention Studies of Nosocomial Infection statement, 2007) by Sheldon Stone and colleagues proposed a standardized way of reporting an outbreak, that could be useful in prevention and/or management of future outbreaks, other than contributing to current literature [143].

The statement consisted in a 22-items checklist including information on: the number of colonized, infected, and deceased patients; the type of medical department; the number of beds on the ward; performance of genotyping; the study design; and data on costs.

A decade ORION statement publication, outbreak reports globally still did not provide the basic information in the event [142]. After 2017, only a review on CRAB and CRPRA outbreaks mentioned the statement, apparently not using it though for the selection of the outbreak reports, but highlighting the importance of an appropriate reporting [144].

12.

CRE PREVENTION AMONG SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Haematological patients

Among CRE rectal colonized haematological patients, in a recent retrospective study by Xia Chen et al., receiving proton pump inhibitors and admission to ICU (P < 0.05) were identified as risk factors for subsequent CRE infection development [145]. Receiving proton pump inhibitors is recognized to be a predisposing factor to infection also by extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Among this kind of haematological patients, gastrointestinal injury, tigecycline exposure and carbapenem resistance score were not associated with subsequent CRE infection, which may be responsible for subsequent CRE infection in other haematological disorders [146], as well as high-risk disease and mucositis [147].

Neutropenic patients

According to ESCMID-EUCIC guidelines, there are no conclusive evidences on 3GCephRE carriers decolonization benefits in this population. In particular, decolonization of 3GCephRE has been associated to temporary effectiveness and an increased risk of developing ESBL-E BSI in neutropenic colonized patients [67].

For future clinical trials on decolonization by this pathogen, they suggest using the combination of oral colistin sulphate (50 mg (salt) four times daily) and neomycin sulphate (250 mg (salt) four times daily) in severe neutropenic patients [67].

Hemodialysis patients

Patients using a temporary line for vascular access have a greater risk of colonization by MRSA [148].

13.

COST-EFFECTIVENESS AND MDROs REPRODUCTIVE NUMBER (R₀)

Cost-effectiveness of IPC strategies implementation, such as screening, laboratory tools, HCW personnel and bed rotations (that require one bed off regular admissions) are to be considered.

In 2022 WHO’s global report the impact and cost-effectiveness of IPC measures was addressed to encourage the improvement of IPC programmes [149].

Multidrug resistant organisms’ and difficult-to-treat infections are associated to prolonged hospitalization with higher costs in terms of human resources, assistance, drugs, disposables, additional cleaning, length of stay, and laboratory. MDROs reproductive number (R₀) should be kept in mind when estimating an outbreak cost (Table 7).

CRE

Lin et al. developed a computational model in order to predict the cost-effectiveness of CRE surveillance strategies in ICU [150]. The cost of a single CRE patient was esteemed to be $639,48 based on literature review. Other than reducing CRE colonization acquisition, they found out that up to $572.000/year could have been saved whenever IPC strategies were implemented in Maryland, USA. That, considering Maryland 2012 incidence of 4.8 CRE every 100.000 persons.

Nowadays the rate of CRE has risen exponentially.

A single identification of a CRE infection or colonization could be responsible up to 11 transmission, according to a Brazilian study [151].

In this study, authors developed a mathematical model to describe the dynamics of transmission of CRE in ICU, and they found CRE transmission R₀ (basic reproduction number) to be 11 with the routine IPC before the implementation of the experimented IPC strategies they performed. After IPC implementations, R₀ dropped to 0,41 (range 0-2,1). To our knowledge, this is the only study that was capable of estimating the R₀ of CRE colonized patients.

Recently, many and effective new antibiotics have been discovered against CRE [152], but their costs are still very high.

VRE

Mac et al. proved the same cost-effectiveness of VRE screening and isolation in medicine ward in Canada [153]. The cost of a single VRE patient was esteemed to be $17,949 [154] while a VRE outbreak €60.524 [155] based on literature review. Equally to Lin et al. for CRE, they proved both VRE colonization acquisition and relative mortality reduction at a cost-effectiveness threshold of $50,000/QALY (quality-adjusted life years) in Toronto, Canada. According to current literature, VRE transmission R₀ was 1.32 (range 1.03-1.46) [156].

MRSA

Chaix et al. esteemed the cost of a single MRSA infection in a French ICU to be $9.275, while IPC measures for MRSA would range from $340 to $1480 per patient and $30.225 for the entire outbreak [157,158]. They proved that a routinary screening together with other IPC measures managed to reduce both costs and MRSA incidence, the latest by 14%. According to a recent review, universal decolonization would be more effective and less expensive than other IPC strategies, but the most effective would be a combination of screening, isolation, and decolonization in ICU setting, even though the most expensive one [159]. Eike Steinig and colleagues conducted the first study on community-acquired MRSA R₀ , resulting in a range between 0.97 and 1.60 depending on the strain [160].

In summary, IPC measures in ICU have been proved to be cost-effective wherever MRSA colonization and infection rates are significant, although no cut-off rate has been assessed.

CRAB

Literature on carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii (CRAB) outbreak costs is more scares. Coyle et al. elaborated a model estimating CRAB single patient cost up to $55,122 for a 13-days length of stay [161], confirmed by Young et al., who reported a real-life data cost of $60,000 in a Korean ICU [162]. Considering a R₀ of 1,5 approximately in Australian ICUs, total outbreak cost would be around $1 million [27]. Implementing IPC measures, the threshold would be

C. auris

Taori et al. analysed the cost a Candida auris outbreak in London, UK, estimated to be €1.217.817, 84. The additional length of stay accounted for half of this sum (€69.645,50/month) [163]. The screening cost for C. auris was esteemed to be €269.984 during outbreak (€51.040/month) [163].

Considering this study, a C. auris outbreak exceeds in costs an average CRE outbreak (€1.1 millions) [164] and Clostridium difficile outbreak (€1.222.376) [165], taking into consideration the long-lasting contamination or the need for closing the ICU for a certain period.

Cost-effectiveness of IPC measures in C. auris outbreaks is still to be assessed. Recently, Rosa et al. managed to prove the positive economic impact of the implementation of an in-house PCR (polymerase chain reaction) to screen patients presenting risk factors for C. auris acquisition at admission in Miami hospitals, USA [166]. The saving margin in two-years post-intervention period was between $772.513,10 and $3 730.480,26, based on a deduced incidence of positivity of 3% [166].

As far as we know, none of C. auris studies conducted so far identified C. auris transmission R₀.

Therefore, IPC represent a solid cost-effective solution for CRE, VRE, MRSA and CDI outbreaks and a possibly cost-effective strategy for C. auris outbreaks, as they seem to be capable to prevent these hospitalizations with associated costs.

Reproductive numbers of other pathogens possible responsible for outbreaks in ICU have been reported in Table 8.

14.

NEW EXPERIMENTED STRATEGIES

Beyond HH and isolation precautions, new experimental IPC strategies have been proposed in the last 10 years. These strategies are focused on MDROs outbreaks (Table 9).

Most recent applications include the employment of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, but literature is still scarce on this topic.

One of the most relevant, easy-to-implement, and effective, is the five-items IPC bundle proposed by Meschiari et al. for CRAB outbreaks in ICU (Box.4) [51]. Notably, A. baumannii outstands for its endurance and it could survive on dry surfaces up 5 months [187], de facto facilitating its spreading.

Marianna Meschiari et al. when facing a CRAB outbreak in their ICU, decided to implement and systematize IPC measures, which lead to the elaboration of this successful protocol (Box.4).

While previously existing items n. 2 and n. 3 were intensified and revised (multiple sites vs rectal site for n. 2 and universal vs CRAB-carrier only contact precaution measures for n.3), the items 4 and 5 are novelty in the field. In their study, whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis was performed for all CRAB isolates, environmental or clinical.

The pitfall of this new method is that it is frequently difficult to create a ‘transitory room’ due to the ICU overcrowding currently affecting many ICU all over the world [189].

Moreover, the whole process takes approximately 6h, that implies the need for supplementary HCWs or, more realistically, healthcare assistant shifts, contributing to work overload [190]. It could be still useful to avoid ICU closure and limiting admissions due to extensive CRAB contamination. It is also applicable to open space ICU, the most affected type of ICU by nosocomial epidemics [191]. After the introduction of the cycling radical cleaning and disinfection in 2018, Modena ICU (Italy) did not experience nosocomial ICU-CRAB outbreaks anymore, but only sporadic cases [51]. Furthermore, ICU alcohol hand rub use increased more than 3 times, and also total antibiotic use dropped in measure of 18,2%, while meropenem and fluoroquinolones of 83,3% and 84% respectively (percentages were calculated based on original article’s data).

15.

FUTURE PERSPECTIVES OF IPC

It has not escaped our notice that IPC strategies could consistently change in the next few years (Table 10). Phage therapy, targeting specific virulence genes and non-antibiotic decolonization strategies seem the most promising ones.

Take-home messages are displayed in Box.5.

Limitations

Conclusions

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