About
The i-Bird program was devoted to explore the ability of MRSA and ER3GC to disseminate within hospital clinical departments. This program involved tracing the clonal dissemination of MRSA and ER3GC among hospitalized patients and MRSA among every health-care worker (HCW) during the study period, and the measurement of contact dynamics within the hospital as a whole.
The i-Bird investigation was a prospective, observational, cohort study conducted in a 200-bed long-term care hospital over a 6-month period (June-November) in 2009. We obtained large-scale dynamic networks of interactions among patients and HCWs within the hospital. These interactions were measured by equipping all study participants with a “LogSensor” (WSN430): a wireless device to signal and record the presence of other LogSensor devices in their short radio-frequency range.
From this unique data we intend to investigate the interactions between the following factors and S. aureus infections:
- MRSA and MSSA, in particular the possible competitive interactions between these bacteria during their dissemination and their possible difference in epidemic fitness;
- Antibiotic exposure (in particular fluoroquinolones) and the risk of being colonized with MRSA versus MSSA, and to analyze the effect of these molecules on the duration of carriage and the risk of transmission.
This study was funded by the FP7 European program (MOSAR project, WP8) and a PHRC grant.
Keywords: Bacteria, Antibiotic-resistance, Hospital, Detailed Contacts, Log-censors Statistical Inference, Epidemicity, Transmission
