Could you have an ERCP-related outbreak? Sequencing to the rescue but you’ll have to trash the scope!

In this episode, Martin talks to Cansu Cimen, a researcher at University Hospitals Groningen in the Netherlands, about a recent paper that documents an outbreak and in particular the critical role of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in tracking and controlling the transmission of MDROs via contaminated duodenoscopes.

Focusing on an outbreak linked to ESBL-producing Citrobacter freundii and Klebsiella pneumoniae after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), standard culture methods failed to detect contamination. After many negative cultures using established methods, destructive dismantling of the implicated scope revealed contamination on hard-to-clean components, highlighting NGS as an effective tool for identifying pathogen transmission pathways.

Cimen C, Bathoorn E, Loeve AJ, Fliss M, Berends MS, Nagengast WB, et al. Uncovering the spread of drug-resistant bacteria through next-generation sequencing based surveillance: transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales by a contaminated duodenoscope. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 2024;13(1):31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-024-01386-5.

Download the paper here