Clinical Trial Summary
The spread of multiresistant bacteria is an increasing problem which will mean increased
costs, morbidity and mortality in the coming years. Emergency departments (ED) play a key
role in the early identification and management of patients who are carriers of
multiresistant bacteria, but today there is very limited knowledge about both prevalence in
the EDs and risk factors for the carrier status of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA), extended spectrum beta lactam producing enterobacteria (ESBL), vancomycin
resistant enterococci (VRE), carbapenem resistant enterobacteria (CPE) and toxin-producing
Clostridium difficile (CD). This knowledge is necessary to prioritize and target the
preventive response to the spread of multiresistant bacteria.
The aim of this project is to provide a comprehensive overview of prevalence and risk factors
for carrier status at a national level, and to develop screening tools for early
identification of MRSA, ESBL, VRE, CPE and CD carriers among patients admitted to Danish
emergency departments.
For hospitalized patients in 8 emergency departments in 4 Danish regions, a total of 10,600
patients are asked for possible risk factors for resistant bacterial carrier status, and are
swabbed in the throat, nose and rectum openings and examined for MRSA, VRE, CPE, ESBL and CD
with the same analytical method of 4 clinical microbiological departments.
The results are analyzed so that the prevalence of resistant bacteria can be described at the
hospital level, regional level and national level. Risk factors are analyzed for
applicability for carrier identification, and based on this, screening models for the
identification of carriers are developed.
The vision for the project is that, based on the collected data, a comprehensive picture of
the extent of the problem in Denmark can be drawn up and new screening tools for early
identification of carriers can be developed so that the intra-hospital spread of resistant
bacteria can be met through early intervention with infectious hygiene measures.
The project has been granted a grant of DKK 3,000,000 from the Ministry of Health and the
Elderly on December 7, 2016 and DKK 554,871 from the Region of Southern Denmark on 28 August
2017.
