What’s Lurking in Your Sinks and Drains, and Implications for Infection Control?

This webinar will provide an overview of Carbapenem-resistant organisms (CRO) outbreaks reported in facilities around the world in which sinks and drains were suspected as the source of the outbreak, describe features and characteristics of outbreaks and the rationale for them, then describe interventions and actions to mitigate the risk from sinks and drains contaminated with CRO.

After this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Describe carbapenemases and how they make bacteria resistant to antibiotics, and name the types of bacteria that produce them
• Recognize patterns of outbreaks caused by carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPO) and evaluate types of interventions used to try and stop them
• Examine why sink- and drain-related CPO outbreaks have similar characteristics and how biofilms play a role
• Identify types of intervention that may be appropriate in outbreak situations
• Determine if a sink- or drain-related CPO outbreak is occurring, and draw conclusions on which actions to take

The overarching goal of this webinar is to give participants an idea of the features of outbreaks in which sinks and drains were suspected as the source, and provide them with information about the interventions, actions and strategies that can be used to mitigate contamination and reduce the risk of transmission.