Tap Water Avoidance Decreases Rates of Hospital-onset Pulmonary Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

Arthur W Baker; Jason E Stout; Deverick J Anderson; Daniel J Sexton; Becky Smith; Rebekah W Moehring; Kirk Huslage; Christopher J Hostler; Sarah S Lewis

doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1237

Tap Water Avoidance Decreases Rates of Hospital-onset Pulmonary Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Aug 2;73(3):524-527. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1237.

Authors

Arthur W Baker^{1

2}, Jason E Stout¹, Deverick J Anderson^{1

2}, Daniel J Sexton^{1

2}, Becky Smith¹, Rebekah W Moehring^{1

2}, Kirk Huslage^{1

2}, Christopher J Hostler^{1

2

3}, Sarah S Lewis^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
² Duke Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
³ Durham VA Health Care System, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

Abstract

We analyzed the impact of a hospital tap water avoidance protocol on respiratory isolation of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). After protocol implementation, hospital-onset episodes of respiratory NTM isolation on high-risk units decreased from 41.0 to 9.9 episodes per 10 000 patient-days (incidence rate ratio, 0.24; 95% confidence interval, .17-.34; P < .0001).

Keywords: hospital outbreak; nontuberculous mycobacteria; tap water.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Comment

MeSH terms

Delivery of Health Care
Hospitals
Humans
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous* / epidemiology
Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous* / prevention & control
Nontuberculous Mycobacteria*
Water
Water Supply

Substances

Water

Grants and funding

T32 AI100851/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States