Hospitals that make you sick

Fig. 1. Patient location and overlap during the outbreak. (A) Timeline of first positive cultures of the outbreak strain for the 18 affected patients.(B) Patient traces for each of the 18 patients shown in (A). Black lines, first positive culture; blue lines, medical ICU; yellow lines, cohorted areas;other colors represent specific wards at the NIH Clinical Center. (C) Graph of possible transmission links among patients. Patient IDs are within the circles. An arrow is present from one patient to another if the two patients overlapped in the same unit before the potential recipient culturing positive. Red links, the transmission event is predicted by the analysis reported here (see Fig. 3). www.ScienceTranslationalMedicine.org 22 August 2012 Vol 4 Issue 148 148ra116

This week's article was kindly forwarded to me by Melanie. We all heard about the outbreak of the carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pnueumoniae that killed 11 out of 18 patients at the NIH Health Clinical Center in 2011. Here we have an opportunity to review the detective science behind elucidating the super-bug, tracking it down, and stomping it out of the hospital, pipes?!?!!!! My goodness, this article stirs several questions of pre-medical students: 1.How does whole-genome sequencing work as a detective art? 2. How do you feel about working in hospitals after learning about bugs like this? 3. What will be your stance on antibiotics as a physician? 4. Should more patients be sent home or prevented from entering hospitals knowing the dangers of pathogens such as these?

Please comment on one of the questions I pose above, or comment on whatever strikes you most after reading this Nature Translational Medicine article.

Click here:Article 3_Snitkin et al. Tracking Down Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae