IORD – Ongoing approved projects and project outputs

Every year, influenza virus causes significant illness globally. Many people are admitted to the John Radcliffe hospital with the virus and tested using molecular test. Currently, we do not use all the information that the test provides. This study aims to use the extra information from the current test (called the CT value) to work … Read more

There are increasing numbers of reports of micro-organisms that can cause human infections being found in wastewater environments, like sinks, drains and toilets. These could potentially be transmitted to unwell people in hospitals. However, whether this really occurs is unclear. We have sequenced all the genetic variation of micro-organisms found in sinks in some hospital … Read more

Every year influenza (‘flu’) puts a major strain on UK hospitals. Whilst many patients are admitted with influenza, other patients can get it during their hospital stay. This is because it is very easy to transmit, and it is not always obvious who has flu. We are using genetic sequencing to work out the ‘letters’ … Read more

Across England, the number of bloodstream infections caused by a group of bacteria which include ‘Esherichia coli’ (E. coli) and ‘Klebsiella pneuomoniae’ (K. pneumoniae) has been rising significantly for the last few years. A recent investigation by our group using the IORD database has in addition revealed that antibiotic resistance in these infections is also … Read more

Across England, the number of infections caused by a family of bacteria called Streptococcus have been rising strongly for the last few years. However, the reasons behind these increases are not well understood at the moment. We plan to use the extra information in the IORD database to look at some different reasons why these … Read more

Antibiotics are prescribed when sick patients arrive at hospital, before doctors know what kind of bacteria is causing an infection and what antibiotics it might be resistant to. Even when a bacteria is identified as causing an infection, it is labelled as “resistant” (R) or “susceptible” (S) based on fairly arbitrary definitions. However, resistance is … Read more

Recently a fungus called Candida auris, resistant to multiple antifungal treatments, emerged globally. It is related to the family that causes thrush, Candida albicans, but behaves differently, usually infecting or colonizing patients in intensive care facilities. This organism is now colonizing patients on a ward in Oxford, the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Little information … Read more

Across England, the number of bloodstream infections caused by a bacteria called ‘Esherichia coli’ (E. coli) have been rising strongly for the last few years. However, the reasons behind these increases are not well understood at the moment. We plan to use the extra information in the IORD database to look at some different reasons … Read more

Our knowledge of resistance of bacteria, such as E. coli, to antibiotic drugs is incomplete. An understanding of how such resistance is passed on from generation to generation of bacteria is important in helping us to determine which drugs should be given to patients, and in helping us formulate new drugs. This project aims to … Read more

This project aims to estimate the incidence of C. difficile infection in Oxfordshire, inside and outside hospitals (inpatient, outpatient/day case/A&E, community), over calendar time, analysing the trends to identify potential new strains (as measured by multi-locus sequence type, MLST) threatening the health of Oxfordshire residents. We will also explore whether and how outcomes following C. … Read more

This project focusses on patients who do not recover straightaway from C. difficile, but in whom either initial treatment for the infection does not work, or in whom the infection comes back (termed “recurrence” of infection). We want to work how often C. difficile recurrence happens, and how long does this typically take. We will … Read more

See publication: Probabilistic transmission models incorporating sequencing data for healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile outperform heuristic rules and identify strain-specific differences in transmission

Summary of findings: In an endemic setting, with well-implemented infection control measures, ward-based contact with other patients with C. difficile diarrhoea cannot account for the majority of new cases – no more than 25% of new cases in Oxfordshire over 2 years could be linked to a previous source based on strain-typing and ward movements. … Read more

Summary of findings: Rates of MRSA infection in blood and other sites were falling before intensification of infection-control measures in 2006. This, together with strain-specific changes in MRSA isolation, strongly suggests that incompletely understood biological factors are responsible for the much recent variation in MRSA isolation. A major, mainly meticillin-sensitive, S aureus burden remains. See … Read more

Summary of findings: Trends in the rates of serious bloodstream infections caused by antibiotic-sensitive microbes were similar between 1998-2007 across 14 hospitals in Europe, but rates of serious bloodstream infections caused by antibiotic-resistant microbes increased much more in hospitals in countries were antibiotic resistance is in endemic. So antibiotic-resistant infections increase the total disease burden, … Read more