Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the presence of ESKAPE organisms on the hands of students working in
the intensive care unit (ICU) at a veterinary academic hospital.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among students working in an ICU at a veterinary academic
hospital in South Africa. Students were sampled before the start of the ICU shift using a modified glove-juice method.
Standard microbiological techniques and a series of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were used to identify and
characterize the bacteria. All the isolates were tested for resistance against a specific panel of antibiotics using the disk
diffusion method. Proportions of bacterial species and their antimicrobial-susceptibility profiles were calculated.
RESULTS: At screening, all the veterinary students (n=62) carried at least one of the ESKAPE organisms on their hands.
Escherichia coli was the most isolated organism (76%, 47/62), followed by P. aeruginosa (48%, 30/62), A. baumannii
(47%, 29/62), E. faecium (35%, 22/62), K. pneumoniae (27%, 17/62), and S. aureus (24%, 15/62). A reduced proportion
of isolates were recovered from the samples, E. coli (26%, 12/47), E. faecium (23%, 5/22), P. aeruginosa (43%, 13/30), A.
baumannii (24%,7/29), K. pneumoniae (41%, 7/17), and S. aureus (20%, 3/15). Most of the organisms showed a high
proportion of resistance to at least one antibiotic. Multidrug resistance was reported among just over half (56%, 5/9)
of E. coli, 40% (2/5) of E. faecium, 100% (13/13) of P. aeruginosa, and 33% (1/3) of S. aureus isolates.
CONCLUSION: Students working in the ICU carry several organisms belonging to the ESKAPE group of organisms
before contact with patients. Moreover, MDR resistance was common among this group of organisms. The findings of
the present study underscore the importance of infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies to help reduce the
likelihood of the spread of these organisms to personnel, owners, family members, and patients.
