Silica nanoparticles with encapsulated DNA (SPED) - a novel surrogate tracer for microbial transmission in healthcare.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The increase in antimicrobial resistance is of worldwide concern. Surrogate tracers attempt to simulate microbial transmission by avoiding the infectious risks associated with live organisms. We evaluated silica nanoparticles with encapsulated DNA (SPED) as a new promising surrogate tracer in healthcare.

Methods

SPED and Escherichia coli were used to implement three experiments in simulation rooms and a microbiology laboratory in 2017-2018. Experiment 1 investigated the transmission behaviour of SPED in a predefined simulated patient-care scenario. SPED marked with 3 different DNA sequences (SPED1-SPED3) were introduced at 3 different points of the consecutive 13 touch sites of a patient-care scenario that was repeated 3 times, resulting in a total of 288 values.

SUBMITTER: Scotoni M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7493369 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature