FICUBIOME – Tracking transmissible bacteria using faecal microbiome v2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Usefulness of faecal microbiome of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for screening of potentially transmissible bacteria - an exploratory study
IRAS ID
219036
Contact name
Timothy D Planche
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's University of London and St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 23 days
Research summary
Antimicrobial resistance is increasing among the ’Gram-negative’ bacteria, which are frequent causes of many important and common infections that are transmitted in hospital. They routinely harmlessly colonise patients’ guts, but can cause invasive disease, particularly in severely ill patients. They are best detected in faecal samples. In-hospital patients having such resistant bacteria are at higher risk of death and prolonged stay.\nThese organisms may develop resistance to several types of antibiotics (multidrug-resistant), becoming then very difficult to treat. In-hospital patients having such resistant bacteria are at higher risk of death and prolonged stay.\nIt is known that these multidrug-resistant organisms are transmitted between patients and the environment. The majority of resistant organisms are acquired from other patients. The traditional method used to detect transmitted organisms is screening patients at risk, e.g. in Intensive care. This is done by rectal swabs, which are then cultured in the laboratory. Positive patients are usually nursed with special precautions or moved to a side room to prevent transmission to nearby patients.\nThese traditional methodologies, however, are inadequate as only detect a very limited number of organisms transmitted between patients, limiting our understanding of transmission. We propose an innovative non-invasive method to detect bacteria that are transmitted between patients by analysing all the genetic (bacterial) material contained in the faeces of patients (faecal microbiome) admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. The information obtained will greatly improve our understanding of transmission of resistant organisms and how to prevent it.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/0186
Date of REC Opinion
8 Mar 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion