Journal of clinical microbiology
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Feb 2016
Comparison of Two Culture Methods for Use in Assessing Microbial Contamination of Duodenoscopes.
Recent outbreaks of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections associated with duodenoscopes used for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography have highlighted the challenge of cleaning and high-level disinfection of these instruments. The Food and Drug Administration has suggested that duodenoscope surveillance by microbiological culturing, along with strict adherence to reprocessing protocols, may help reduce the risk of duodenoscope-associated infection transmission. ⋯ Our protocol resulted in a 65% recovery rate for Gram-negative organisms, demonstrating a 2-fold increased recovery rate compared to the CDC method. The implementation of this protocol may increase the feasibility of duodenoscope surveillance for microbiology laboratories and endoscopy departments.