1649Acquisition of Clostridium difficile Associated with Potentially Contaminated Inpatient Rooms

Background. Hospital rooms of inpatients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) can become contaminated with this major pathogen; unless adequately disinfected, rooms can serve as a reservoir where subsequent patients hospitalized in the same room can also become infected with C. difficile (CD). It was incidentally noted that a patient acquired severe CDI while in a room in our hospital that had recently been occupied by another patient with CDI. As a pilot for a new surveillance measure, we sought to estimate the frequency that patients acquire CDI after exposure to a room recently occupied by a patient with CDI. Methods. CD test results and room location data were obtained from our 500-bed tertiary care center’s MedMined database. For the purposes of this surveillance pilot, hospital-acquired CDI was defined as positive CD PCR test ≥3 days after admission. A room was defined as “potentially contaminated” when occupied by a patient who had a positive CD test within the prior 14 days. A patient was defined as exposed if he/she occupied a “potentially contaminated” room within 14 days prior to testing positive for CD. The Emergency Department and operating rooms were excluded from the study. Results. During the period July-September 2013, 93 patients had a positive CD PCR. Of the 47 hospital-acquired cases, 5 (11%) had developed CDI after exposure to a “potentially contaminated” room (occupied 0-2 days prior by a person with CDI). Geographically associated cases Room Dates same room was occupied Date 1 C. difficile positive