Oral Presentation Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

Implementation of a reference laboratory service for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) surveillance – a Victorian perspective (#7)

Kerrie Stevens 1 , Michelle L Sait 1 , Norelle Sherry 1 2 3 , Mark Schultz 1 , Takehiro Tomita 1 , Susan Ballard 1 , Anders Goncalves da Silva 1 2 , Courtney Lane 1 , Jason Kwong 2 3 , Deborah Williamson 1 2 , Benjamin P Howden 1 2 3
  1. Microbiological Diagnostic Unit, Public Health Laboratory (MDU PHL), The University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria , Australia
  2. Department of Microbiology & Immunology , The University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria , Australia
  3. Department of Infectious Diseases, Austin Health, Melbourne, Victoria , Australia

The presence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in healthcare institutions represents a considerable threat to public health. In 2015 the Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria established CPE guidelines.  These guidelines require clinical diagnostic laboratories to submit suspected CPE isolates to the state public health laboratory (MDU PHL) for molecular confirmatory testing and determination of clonality to identify potential transmission.

Designing laboratory procedures and processes to meet the guidelines has required the input of numerous personnel: laboratory scientists, clinical staff, epidemiologists, bioinformaticians, and IT personnel. The workflow design process is ongoing and currently incorporates phenotypic screening, real-time multiplex PCR for selected genes and whole genome sequencing to determine resistance alleles and relatedness of CPE isolates. Implementation of a reference laboratory service for CPE incorporating  genomics has facilitated focused infection control interventions for Victoria, Australia. This presentation will discuss some of the challenges and successes to date.