Health care worker carriage of drug-resistant bacteria and infection control practices at a tertiary care hospital in Uganda: a cross-sectional survey

Introduction: bacterial carriage by health care workers (HCWs) is a major risk factor for transmission of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Often, these pathogens are multiple drug resistant (MDR) and are transmitted from hospital environments. We aimed to study the carriage of pathogenic bacteria among HCWs at a tertiary care hospital in Uganda. Methods: a cross-sectional study was done at Naguru Regional Referral Hospital from June 2017 to August 2017. Five finger imprints of both hands-on blood and MacConkey agar were done. We assessed pathogenic bacterial carriage by HCWs and characterized drug sensitivity and relatedness of these isolates. Genotyping of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) positive isolates was done to determine intra-hospital transmission. A survey of the hospital's IPC program was done. Results: one hundred eight (108) HCWs were enrolled. Carriage of pathogenic bacteria was highest in surgical and emergency wards at 36% and 35.6% respectively, p-value of 0.00. The proportion of microbial carriage was highest among nurses 16 (34.8%) followed by medical officers 11(23.9%). Among the isolated pathogenic bacteria, 25(36.2%) were Gram-positive and 44(63.8%) were Gram-negative. Fifty percent of Staphylococcus aureus were methicillin-resistant, and one isolate was vancomycin-resistant. Fifty-four percent (54.6%) of HCWs had never been trained on moments of hand hygiene, only 44.4% recognized the presence of an IPC program in the hospital and 49% were not aware of problems associated with poor IPC practices. Conclusion: this study demonstrated that hands of HCWs at Naguru Regional Referral Hospital were colonized with pathogenic bacteria with varying prevalence, some with multidrug-resistant strains including MRSA and ESBL.