The best strategy for controlling extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) transmission in intensive care units (ICUs) remains elusive.

We developed a stochastic transmission model to quantify the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing the spread of ESBL-PE in an ICU.

We modeled the evolution of an outbreak caused by the admission of a single carrier in a 10-bed ICU free of ESBL-PE. Using data obtained from recent muticenter studies, we studied 26 strategies combining different levels of the following 3 interventions: (1) increasing healthcare worker compliance with hand hygiene before and after contact with a patient; (2) cohorting; (3) reducing antibiotic prevalence at admission with or without reducing antibiotherapy duration.

Improving hand hygiene compliance from 55% before patient contact and 60% after patient contact to 80% before and 80% after patient contact reduced the nosocomial incidence rate of ESBL-PE colonization by 91% at 90 days. Adding cohorting to hand hygiene improvement intervention decreased the proportion of ESBL-PE acquisitions by an additional 7%. Antibiotic restriction had the lowest impact on the epidemic. When combined with other interventions, it only marginally improved effectiveness, despite strong hypotheses regarding antibiotic impact on transmission.

Our results suggest that hand hygiene is the most effective intervention to control ESBL-PE transmission in an ICU.

Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2016;37(3):272–280