Exposure to antibiotics plays a key role in furthering transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms, according to a study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
Common examples of multidrug-resistant organisms include: Methicillin/oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and vancomycin-resistant enterococci, according to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration.
Researchers used agent-based modeling and a mathematical model, to simulate the interactions between patients and healthcare workers. In the model, researchers designated some patients as colonized with an MDRO and some as receiving antibiotics. The model assumed MDRO transmission occurred mainly through contaminated hands of the workers.
In the model, the researchers reduced antibiotics by 10 percent, which resulted in an 11.2 percent reduction in the transmission of MDROs. They then reduced antibiotic use by 25 percent, and found MDRO transmission decreased by 28.3 percent.
"Antibiotics have been one of the most useful and critical drugs in modern medicine, but our overuse of these drugs has hurt us by supporting the development of MDROs," said Kerri Thom, MD, associate professor at Baltimore-based University of Maryland School of Medicine and a co-author of the study. "Our model suggests that substantial reductions in infection rates are possible if stewardship programs aggressively pursue opportunities to reduce unnecessary usage of antibiotics."