Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and Clostridium difficile (Cdiff) are three major pathogens responsible for severe healthcare-associated infections.
The study aims to address the question: does incorporation of routine strain-typing into healthcare-associated infection surveillance lead to more reliable and rapid identification of outbreaks, and lead to reduction in cases of healthcare-associated infection?
The team will develop rapid, inexpensive, high throughput and accurate strain typing methods for VRE and Cdiff to complement the method we have already implemented for MRSA. The findings are expected to demonstrate earlier detection and termination of outbreaks through the rapid and improved recognition of covert clusters.
Collaborators: Clinical Excellence Commission, Health Protection NSW