Genome Sequencing Halts Bacterial Outbreak

Genome Sequencing Halts Bacterial Outbreak

In the summer of 2011, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md, faced a deadly outbreak of the multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia pathogen that spread throughout the facility, infecting 17 patients—11 of whom died. The spread of this bacterium in spite of stringent infection control protocol, including patient isolation, was alarming to the center’s staff, who were unable to trace the path of transmission. In an effort to discover how it spread, NIH staff collaborated with researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute, led by Senior Investigator Julie Segre, PhD, to map the bacterium’s complete genome through rapid genetic sequencing. The results were published in the August online issue of Science Translational Medicine.

The team used whole-genome sequencing to identify whether the strain of K. pneumonia found in a newly admitted woman with lung disease, who was a participant in a NIH clinical study, was the same one infecting other patients. The genome analysis confirmed that the spreading bacterium originated with the study participant, and that the infection had spread at two separate times from different parts of her body. This knowledge led the facility staff to take extreme infection control measures, such as using hydrogen peroxide vapor to disinfect rooms, and removing sinks and drains where the bacterium had been discovered.

“Genome sequencing and analysis are our best hope for anticipating and outpacing the pathogenic evolution of infectious agents,” notes Segre. “Though our practice of genomics did not change the way patients were treated in this outbreak, it did change the way the hospital practiced infection control.”

As the costs of this technology eventually drop, genome sequencing may revolutionize infection control protocol, helping to reduce the prevalence of health care-associated infections, which cause thousands of death each year.