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Real-Time Genomic Surveillance for Enhanced Healthcare Outbreak Detection and Control: Clinical and Economic Impact
Alexander J Sundermann1,2, Praveen Kumar3, Marissa P Griffith1,4
1Microbial Genomic Epidemiology Laboratory, Center for Genomic Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Summary
Real-time genomic surveillance effectively detected and controlled hospital outbreaks, preventing infections and deaths. This Enhanced Detection System for Healthcare-associated Transmission (EDS-HAT) proved cost-saving, demonstrating a new paradigm for infection prevention.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare epidemiology
- Infectious disease surveillance
- Genomic epidemiology
Background:
- Current hospital outbreak detection methods are insufficient.
- Real-time genomic surveillance offers potential for early outbreak identification.
- The Enhanced Detection System for Healthcare-associated Transmission (EDS-HAT) was developed for real-time genomic surveillance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of EDS-HAT for real-time outbreak detection and mitigation in a hospital setting.
- To assess the clinical and economic impact of implementing EDS-HAT.
Main Methods:
- Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of bacterial isolates from healthcare-associated infections.
- Weekly WGS analysis to identify outbreaks.
- Real-time implementation of infection prevention and control (IP&C) interventions based on genomic data.
- Clinical and economic impact analysis.
Main Results:
- 172 outbreaks were detected among 3,921 isolates, with 61.3% having an epidemiological link.
- Interventions halted transmission in 95.6% of addressed outbreaks.
- Estimated 62 infections and 4.8 deaths avoided, with net cost savings of $695,706 (3.2-fold ROI).
- EDS-HAT was found to be cost-saving and more effective in 98% of simulations.
Conclusions:
- Real-time genomic surveillance facilitates rapid detection and control of hospital outbreaks.
- EDS-HAT integration into routine practice offers significant patient and economic benefits.
- This approach represents a paradigm shift in healthcare outbreak detection and control.
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