Rhonda L Stuart
Monash Infectious Diseases, Monash Health, Clayton Rd Clayton, 3168
Monash University
National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship
rhonda.stuart@monashhealth.org
Recent reports from UK, Europe and the United States have described a small number of invasive infections with Mycobacterium chimaera associated with cardiac surgery. M. chimaera is likely to have been transmitted to patients by aerosols generated from contaminated heater-cooler units used during cardiopulmonary bypass. This session will discuss the outbreak and the relevance in the Australian Healthcare setting. Implications for a suggested risk-based approach to management of heater cooler units in hospitals that perform cardiac bypass surgery will be discussed, including compliance with recommended disinfection and sterilisation processes, microbiological testing of heater-cooler unit water, and other risk reduction activities.
