October 2022
Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal
Highlights: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 28, No. 10, October 2022
The articles of interest summarized below will appear in the October 2022 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, CDC’s monthly peer-reviewed public health journal. This issue will feature high-consequence pathogens. The articles are embargoed until September 14, 2022, at noon Eastern time.
Important Note: Most articles that EID publishes do not represent work done at CDC or by CDC staff. In your stories, please use our suggested language to clarify whether a study was conducted by CDC (“a CDC study”) or by another institution (“a study published by ____ in the EID journal”). Opinions expressed by authors contributing to EID do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CDC or the institutions with which the authors are affiliated.
Please link directly to the actual journal article in your stories. Once the embargo lifts, this month’s articles will be found in the Early Release section of the EID website.
Because EID publishes many articles on current disease outbreaks (e.g., coronavirus and monkey pox) on an expedited track, and we have no embargo on their content, we do not include those articles in these monthly press notices.
- Dialysis Water Supply Faucet as Reservoir for Carbapenemase-Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Christopher Prestel et al.
Carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs) such as Verona-integron-encoded metallo- β-lactamase-producing carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (VIM-CRPA), are emerging public health threats. CPOs cause infections that are often extensively drug-resistant and associated with severe illness that may be difficult to treat. By colonizing faucet aerators and wastewater plumbing systems, CPOs can spread rapidly within healthcare facilities, including to patients. VIM-CRPA is uncommon in the United States; fewer than 150 isolates are reported to CDC annually. During June 2017–November 2019, a total of 36 patients with VIM-CRPA were reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services in a city in western Texas. Researchers conducted environmental sampling of a specialty care unit in a hospital involved in the larger regional outbreak and found that a faucet, intended as a water supply for dialysis treatments, had been contaminated with the organism and was the probable source of infection in several patients. Although none of the infected patients underwent dialysis, the faucet may have been used for hand hygiene and other purposes. Infection prevention efforts at the hospital focused on improving sink hygiene, including removing patient care supplies from sink splash zones and regularly cleaning splash zones to prevent future transmission to patients from wastewater plumbing. During the 18-month period after the sink hygiene interventions were started, VIM-CRPA cases decreased hospital-wide, with only two additional case-patients identified during this period.
Contact: CDC Media Relations, phone: 404-639-3286 or email: media@cdc.gov - Plasmodium falciparum pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 Gene Deletions and Relatedness to Other Global Isolates, Djibouti, 2019–2020, Eric Rogier et al.
Deletions of two genes (pfhrp2 and pfhrp3) in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum may inhibit proper diagnosis of malaria by standard rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). To assess the prevalence of these gene deletions, researchers performed laboratory tests and genetic analysis on 1,002 blood samples from patients with suspected malaria in Djibouti City, Djibouti, from December 2019 to March 2020. A total of 311 (31.0%) samples tested positive for P. falciparum, and genetic typing was successful for 296 (95.2%) of these; 37 (12.5%) samples were positive for both pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 genes, 51 (17.2%) were pfhrp2-positive but pfhrp3-negative, 5 (1.7%) were pfhrp2-negative but pfhrp3-positive, and 203 (68.6%) were negative for both pfhrp2 and pfhrp3. The Djibouti strain of P. falciparum is most closely related to those in neighboring Ethiopia and Eritrea in comparison with other African and global isolates. P. falciparum parasites with deletions of their pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 genes appear to have emerged locally on the Horn of Africa and are not imported. Their ability to evade diagnosis by RDTs (and thereby delay treatment of malaria) might lead to a selective advantage for parasites with these gene deletions. Routine surveillance and genetic analysis among populations endemic for P. falciparum is needed to ensure that primary diagnostic tools are still accurate.
Contact: CDC Media Relations, phone: 404-639-3286 or email: media@cdc.gov - Molecular Detection of Histoplasma capsulatum in the Antarctic Continent, Lucas Machado Moreira et al.
Histoplasma capsulatum is a fungus that can cause infection throughout the body (histoplasmosis) when inhaled. In humans, this particular mycosis (i.e., the term for any infection caused by a fungus) typically manifests as fever and other flu-like symptoms, but it can also lead to severe illness and death. In the summer of 2020, researchers detected H. capsulatum on the Potter Peninsula, a special protected area located on King George Island, Antarctica. After collecting samples of penguin droppings, fur seal feces, and soil, the researchers identified the fungus by using laboratory tests and genetic sequencing, confirming previous observations that H. capsulatum occurs even more broadly than suspected. This discovery highlights the need for surveillance of emerging fungi that cause infections throughout the body and the transmission of those fungi among regions, animals, and humans in Antarctica.
Contact: Luciana Trilles, Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; email: luciana.trilles@ini.fiocruz.br or luciana.trilles@yahoo.com.br - Pulmonary Paragonimiasis in Native Community, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, 2022, José C.N. Diaz et al.
Paragonimiasis is a foodborne infection caused by several species of the Paragonimus fluke. The disease typically is caused by eating raw or undercooked freshwater crabs or crayfish infested by the larvae of Paragonimus species. Paragonimiasis can mimic tuberculosis and therefore can cause delays in diagnosis. From the end of 2021 through May 2022, researchers investigated an outbreak of paragonimiasis in an indigenous community in San Lorenzo, Ecuador, where active surveillance was set up after detection in the first two case-patients, both of whom confirmed their habit of eating raw freshwater crustaceans. Paragonimus eggs were found in 8 additional people, all from the same community (La Ceiba), except for 1 person who lived nearby and worked on the same palm oil farm as the first case-patient. The drug praziquantel was administered by a physician at the local health center to infected people, all of whom recovered. Health education on proper food preparation is a key intervention to reduce these infections.
Contact: Dora Buonfrate, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital, Verona, Italy; email: dora.buonfrate@sacrocuore.it
