Wall painting following terminal cleaning with a chlorine solution as part of an intervention to control an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in a neurosurgical intensive care unit in Israel

BackgroundTo describe the use of wall painting as part of an intervention to control an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB).MethodsAn interrupted time-series analysis was performed analyzing an intervention in a neurosurgical intensive care unit (NSICU) and an inpatient hematology department in a tertiary level medical center in Israel. The intervention involved wall painting using a water based acrylic paint following patient discharge and terminal cleaning with sodium troclosene as part of an infection control bundle for an outbreak of CRAB in a NSICU and concurrent outbreaks of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) colonization/infection in the same NSICU and the hematology department.ResultsBetween January 2013 and December 2018, 122 patients hospitalized in the NSICU were identified with new CRAB colonization/infection. The median incidence in the periods prior to/post intervention were 2.24/1000 HD (interquartile range IQR] 0.84–2.90/1000) vs. 0/1000 HD (IQR 0–0.49/1000), respectively. Poisson regression indicated a decrease of 92% in the CRAB incidence following the intervention onset (relative risk RR] 0.080, 95% confidence interval CI] 0.037–0.174, p < 0.001). Forty-seven patients in the NSICU and 110 in the hematology department were colonized/infected with CRE in the same time period; a significant change was not observed following the start of the intervention in either department (for NSICU RR 1.236, 95% CI 0.370–4.125, p = 0.731; for hematology RR 0.658, 95% CI 0.314–1.378, p = 0.267).ConclusionsA. baumannii is able to survive on environmental surfaces despite decontamination efforts; wall-painting as part of a bundle may be a successful infection control measure.