Bacterial environmental surveillance

Hospital acquired infections are a major problem in human hospitals, and more recently they have been recognised as a potential problem in small animal and equine veterinary hospitals.

The development of hospitalisation facilities in veterinary settings, particularly in intensive care units, has created opportunities for the transmission of nosocomial pathogens, similar to those found in human hospitals. As a result, there is a growing need for the implementation of effective infection control practices and policies.

To support veterinary hospitals in addressing this challenge, we offer environmental surveillance services to monitor ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus and S. pseudintermedius, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp.), which are known to be major causes of nosocomial infections. Additionally, we include other multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative pathogens that can also contribute to these infections such as E. coli and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

Download our environmental surveillance services leaflet.

Our laboratory identified bacterial isolates from environmental monitoring using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (Bruker Daltonics). Additionally, we provide bacterial strain typing for hospital‑acquired and environmental isolates of concern using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy with the IR Biotyper (Bruker Daltonics). The IR Biotyper generates highly specific fingerprint-like metabolic signatures that can enable discrimination of medically relevant bacteria at strain level, enabling rapid bacterial strain typing for outbreak investigation, hospital epidemiology and infection control. This can be applied to investigate, for example, clusters of bovine environmental mastitis in dairy herds or the suspected spread of bacterial pathogens associated to nosocomial infection in veterinary hospitals, including small animal and equine clinical settings.

The environmental monitoring services are available to both veterinary hospitals and practices outside of our network. If you're interested in discussing this option, please contact Professor Dorina Timofte at d.timofte@liverpoool.ac.uk.

Explore our publications on veterinary hospital environmental surveillance and the IR Biotyper.