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Reports of organisms harboring multiple carbapenemase genes have increased since 2010. During October 2012–April 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented 151 of these isolates from 100 patients in the United States. Possible risk factors included recent history of international travel, international inpatient healthcare, and solid organ or bone marrow transplantation.

Background Cementing the metaphyseal stem during hip resurfacing surgery improves the initial fixation of the femoral component. However, there may be long-term detrimental effects such as stress shielding or an increased risk of thermal necrosis associated with this technique. Questions/purposes We compared (1) long-term survivorship free from radiographic femoral failure, (2) validated pain scores, and (3) radiographic evidence of component fixation between hips resurfaced with a cemented metaphyseal stem and hips resurfaced with the metaphyseal stem left uncemented. Methods We retrospectively selected all the patients who had undergone bilateral hip resurfacing with an uncemented metaphyseal stem on one side, a cemented metaphyseal stem on the other side, and had both surgeries performed between July 1998 and February 2005. Forty-three patients matched these inclusion criteria. During that period, the indications for cementing the stem evolved in the practice of the senior author (HCA), passing through four phases; initially, only hips with large femoral defects had a cemented stem, then all stems were cemented, then all stems were left uncemented. Finally, stems were cemented for patients receiving small femoral components (< 48 mm) or having large femoral defects (or both). Of the 43 cemented stems, two, 13, 0, and 28 came from each of those four periods. All 43 patients had complete followup at a minimum of 9 years (mean, 143 ± 21 months for the uncemented stems; and 135 ± 22 months for the cemented stems; p = 0.088). Survivorship analyses were performed with Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards ratios using radiographic failure of the femoral component as the endpoint. Pain was assessed with University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) pain scores, and radiographic femoral failure was defined as complete radiolucency around the metaphyseal stem or gross migration of the femoral component. Results There were four failures of the femoral component in the press-fit stem group while the cemented stem group had no femoral failures (p = 0.0471). With the numbers available, we found no differences between the two groups regarding pain relief or radiographic appearance other than in patients whose components developed loosening. Conclusions Cementing the metaphyseal stem improves long-term implant survival and does not alter long-term pain relief or the radiographic appearance of the proximal femur as had been a concern based on the results of finite element studies. We believe that patients with small component sizes and large femoral head defects have more to gain from the use of this technique which adds surface area for fixation, and there is no clinical downside to cementing the stem in patients with large component sizes. Level of Evidence Level III, therapeutic study

We asked persons who inject drugs questions about HCV, including past testing and diagnosis followed by HCV testing. Of 540 participants, 145 (27%) were anti-HCV positive, but of those who were positive, only 46 (32%) knew about their infection. Asking about previous HCV testing results yielded better results than did asking about prior HCV diagnosis. Factors associated with knowing about HCV infection included older age, HIV testing, and drug treatment. Comprehensive approaches to educating and screening this population for HCV need implementation.

The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) revised the carbapenem breakpoints for Enterobacteriaceae in 2010. The number of hospitals that adopted revised breakpoints and the clinical impact of delayed adoption has not been explored. We performed a cross-sectional, voluntary survey of microbiology laboratories from California acute care hospitals and long-term acute care hospitals (LTAC) to determine use of revised CLSI breakpoints. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) clinical isolates from a single tertiary-care hospital from 2013 to 2017 were examined. All isolates with an elevated minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC; ≥2 µg/mL) to imipenem or meropenem were tested for the presence of carbapenemase genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We received responses from 128 laboratories that serve 264/393 (67%) of hospitals and LTACs. Current CLSI carbapenem breakpoints for Enterobacteriaceae were used by 92/128 (72%) laboratories. Among laboratories that used current breakpoints, time to implementation varied from 0 to 68 months (mean, 41 months; median, 55 months). Application of historical breakpoints to isolates with a carbapenemase gene detected by PCR resulted in susceptibility rates of 8.9%, 18.6%, and 18.6% to ertapenem, imipenem, and meropenem, respectively. By current breakpoints, <1% of these isolates were susceptible to ertapenem or imipenem and 2.6% to meropenem. Clinicians and epidemiologists should be aware that use of outdated MIC breakpoints for Enterobacteriaceae remains common and can result in reports of false susceptibility to carbapenems and missed identification of carbapenemase producers. This misclassification could have consequences for patient care and infection control efforts to address carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae.

Background Gram-negative bacilli carrying multiple carbapenemase genes (multi-CP-GNB) present an emerging public health threat; to date, most isolates reported in the literature have been from outside the United States. We reviewed multi-CP-GNB reported to CDC. Methods Reports of multi-CP-GNB isolates carrying genes encoding >1 targeted carbapenemases (i.e., KPC, NDM, OXA-48-type, VIM, or IMP) were received from healthcare facilities, health departments, and public health laboratories, and included isolates tested through the AR Laboratory Network (ARLN) beginning in 2017 as well as isolates sent to CDC for reference testing. Epidemiologic data were gathered by health departments during public health investigations. Results From October 2012 to November 2018, 111 multi-CP-GNB isolates from 71 patients in 20 states were identified. Two patients had three different multi-CP-GNB and one patient had two different multi-CP-GNB. The majority of cases (76%) were reported in 2017 or later, after ARLN testing began. Among patients with multi-CP-GNB, the most common organism-mechanisms combination was Klebsiella pneumoniae carrying NDM and OXA-48-type enzymes (table). Urine (44%) and rectal (20%) were the most frequent specimen sources for isolates. The median age of patients was 63 years (range 2–89 years); most had specimens collected at acute care hospitals (87%) or post-acute care facilities (9%). Of 50 patients with information available, 37 traveled internationally in the 12 months prior to culture collection. Among these, 88% were hospitalized for ≥1 night while outside the United States with 10 countries reported, of which India was most common (n = 18). All 5 patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa co-carrying carbapenemases reported recent hospitalization outside the United States. Conclusion The multi-CP-GNB reported to CDC include diverse organisms and carbapenemase combinations and often harbored carbapenemases from different β-lactamase classes, which may severely limit treatment options. Healthcare exposures outside the United States were common; providers should ask about this exposure at healthcare admission and, when present, institute interventions to stop transmission in order to slow further US emergence. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.