790. Evaluation of an Enhanced CPE Screening Program in an Acute Care Hospital in South Korea

Abstract Background Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) poses a great challenge in infection control in healthcare settings. A screening and contact precautions are recommended to prevent the spread of CPE among patients. However, screening strategies differ among countries and healthcare facilities. Methods In September 2018, we launched a CPE screening program at a 660-bed hospital in South Korea, which targeted previously colonized patients, patients with history of admission < 1 month or transferred patients or ICU-admitted patients. Once patients were identified to have CPE, they were isolated in a single room. After a CPE outbreak in July-Aug 2019, the enhanced screening program was implemented, which included patients with additional risk factors (exposure to hospitals in the past 6 months, receipt of hemodialysis or invasive procedures or rehabilitation) combined with weekly screening in ICU-admitted patients. Screening methods changed from two consecutive rectal screening swabs with chromogenic agar to initial screening with Xpert-Carba-R PCR, followed by one or two consecutive tests with chromogenic agar. We compared the CPE incidence in screening and clinical cultures before and after the enhanced screening program introduction (Sep 2018-Nov 2020). Results A total of 14,318 (2,178 vs. 12,140) were screened among 49,980 admitted patients and screening compliance increased from 18.6% to 94.5%. The number of CPE detection increased from 44 to 154 cases and the proportion of CPE-positive screening per 1000 admissions increased 0.6 to 2.2. However, the number of clinical CPE cultures decreased from 11 to 3 (Figure). Among screened patients, time-to-positivity was markedly reduced by 1.9 days (2.96 vs. 1.02 days) during the post-period. Additional 70 patients were detected: 36 due to serial screening in the ICUs and 34 due to enhanced on-admission screening. Factors significantly associated with positive screening were previous exposure to hospital (OR 3.5; 95% CI 1.7-7.1) and receipt of hemodialysis (OR 4.3; 95%CI 1.9-9.2). CPE isolates and carbapenemase genes were diverse (Figure). Trends in CPE detection in screening and clinical samples (upper), and bacterial species with detected carbapenemase genes (lower). Conclusion The study results showed that the enhanced screening program enabled us to identify the previously undetected CPE colonized patients and to decrease clinical CPE cultures. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures