Whole Genome Sequencing Applications in Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Prevention

Whole genome sequencing is increasingly used in epidemiologic surveillance in healthcare centers, shedding new light on the transmission of healthcare-associated infections. As processing times for these technologies shorten, the ability to use sequencing data for targeted infection prevention is seemingly attainable and of great interest to infection prevention practitioners in an era of limited resources.

Common healthcare-associated infections such as C. difficile and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus may be acquired in diverse settings including the community, rather than direct patient-to-patient transmission as previously thought. This along with the emergence of new organisms such as Candida auris may indicate that infection prevention interventions should be all-encompassing rather than organism-specific in focus.

Whole genome sequencing technologies are providing a level of detail in assessing organism relatedness that is changing our understanding of the transmission of infections in healthcare settings and may impact infection prevention strategies in the future.