Office of Infection Control and Prevention

Satoshi Iwata, Osamu Kobayashi, Mika Shiotsuka, Yusuke Okuma, Junya Oguma, Kiyoko Nakano, Mimiko Muroya, Minako Hitokuwata, Tomomi Sano, Kouji Yamada, Anna Ishida

Introduction

The mission of the Office of Infection Control and Prevention is to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections in cancer patients who undergo various cancer care including highly advanced cancer treatments. The office consists of infectious disease specialists, certified nurses in infection control, board certified pharmacists in infection control, an infection control microbiological technologist, and an office clerk. We execute our tasks in collaboration with the Infection Control Team and the Antimicrobial Stewardship Team which consists of cross-sectional members from various areas throughout out hospital. We also collaborate with “link nurses” to facilitate appropriate infection control practices in each ward.

The team and what we do

• Advise on infection control and prevention, especially focusing on healthcare-associated infections, problematic pathogens including multidrug-resistant bacteria or SARS-CoV-2, and occupational infections.
• Consult with physicians on appropriate diagnosis of and treatment for infectious diseases (Table 1).
• Implement antimicrobial stewardship strategy based on the local data from our hospital and the current clinical evidence (Table 1).
• Make weekly rounds in the wards to monitor the environmental maintenance and the compliance with the Infection Prevention and Control Manual.
• Conduct surveillance for healthcare-associated infections and drug-resistant bacteria.
• Provide education for the staff on standard practices regarding infection control and prevention with up-to-date evidence.
• Check the immunization status of the hospital staff and vaccinate those with insufficient protective immunity.
• Advise on building and refurbishment projects from the perspective of infection control.
• Hold conferences or mutual site visits with other regional hospitals to promote improvement in one another’s infection control and prevention practices.

Table 1. Number of patients supported through ICT/AST rounds

Research activities

• Effective education on infection control practices, especially medical device management.
• Surveillance for surgical site infections.
• Appropriate dosing of antimicrobial drugs in cancer patients.
• Ideal system of infection control for cancer centers in the Japanese medical care system.
• Mechanism of antimicrobial resistance of multidrug resistant strains of Enterobacteriaceae isolated from cancer patients.
• Molecular epidemiology of Streptococci and Mycoplasma pneumoniae.
• Epidemiology of bacterial meningitis in Japan.
• COVID-19 and its vaccine in cancer patients.

Education

Training for infection control and management of infectious diseases aimed at physicians and medical personnel.

Future prospects

Our final goal is to establish an ideal and feasible model of an infection control system for cancer centers around the world.

List of papers published

Journal

1. Iwata S, Koyama H, Murata Y. Efficacy and safety of daptomycin in Japanese pediatric participants with complicated skin and soft tissue infections or bacteremia caused by gram-positive cocci. Journal of infection and chemotherapy: official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy, 28:406-412, 2022

2. Katsuta T, Shimizu N, Okada K, Tanaka-Taya K, Nakano T, Kamiya H, Amo K, Ishiwada N, Iwata S, Oshiro M, Okabe N, Kira R, Korematsu S, Suga S, Tsugawa T, Nishimura N, Hishiki H, Fujioka M, Hosoya M, Mizuno Y, Mine M, Miyairi I, Miyazaki C, Morioka I, Morishima T, Yoshikawa T, Wada T, Azuma H, Kusuhara K, Ouchi K, Saitoh A, Moriuchi H. The clinical characteristics of pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 in 2020 in Japan. Pediatrics international: official journal of the Japan Pediatric Society, 64:e14912, 2022

3. Takamatsu A, Yaguchi T, Tagashira Y, Watanabe A, Honda H. Nocardiosis in Japan: a Multicentric Retrospective Cohort Study. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 66:e0189021, 2022

4. Yazaki S, Yoshida T, Kojima Y, Yagishita S, Nakahama H, Okinaka K, Matsushita H, Shiotsuka M, Kobayashi O, Iwata S, Narita Y, Ohba A, Takahashi M, Iwasa S, Kobayashi K, Ohe Y, Yoshida T, Hamada A, Doi T, Yamamoto N. Difference in SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Status Between Patients With Cancer and Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan. JAMA oncology, 7:1141-1148, 2021

5. Thomsen K, Kobayashi O, Kishi K, Shirai R, Østrup Jensen P, Heydorn A, Hentzer M, Calum H, Christophersen L, Høiby N, Moser C . Animal models of chronic and recurrent Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection: significance of macrolide treatment. APMIS: acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica, 2021

6. Shinkai M, Tsushima K, Tanaka S, Hagiwara E, Tarumoto N, Kawada I, Hirai Y, Fujiwara S, Komase Y, Saraya T, Koh H, Kagiyama N, Shimada M, Kanou D, Antoku S, Uchida Y, Tokue Y, Takamori M, Gon Y, Ie K, Yamazaki Y, Harada K, Miyao N, Naka T, Iwata M, Nakagawa A, Hiyama K, Ogawa Y, Shinoda M, Ota S, Hirouchi T, Terada J, Kawano S, Ogura T, Sakurai T, Matsumoto Y, Kunishima H, Kobayashi O, Iwata S. Efficacy and Safety of Favipiravir in Moderate COVID-19 Pneumonia Patients without Oxygen Therapy: A Randomized, Phase III Clinical Trial. Infectious diseases and therapy, 10:2489-2509, 2021

7. Sugita K, Aoki K, Komori K, Nagasawa T, Ishii Y, Iwata S, Tateda K. Molecular Analysis of bla(KPC-2)-Harboring Plasmids: Tn4401a Interplasmid Transposition and Tn4401a-Carrying ColRNAI Plasmid Mobilization from Klebsiella pneumoniae to Citrobacter europaeus and Morganella morganii in a Single Patient. mSphere, 6:e0085021, 2021

8. Oishi T, Muratani T, Tanaka T, Sato M, Urara K, Ouchi K, Iwata S, Matsumoto T, Nakahama C. Study of Normal Flora in the Pharynx of Healthy Children. Japanese journal of infectious diseases, 74:450-457, 2021

9. Hanada S, Takata M, Morozumi M, Iwata S, Fujishima S, Ubukata K. Multiple comorbidities increase the risk of death from invasive pneumococcal disease under the age of 65 years. Journal of infection and chemotherapy: official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy, 27:1311-1318, 2021

10. Sobue T, Fukuda H, Matsumoto T, Lee B, Ito S, Iwata S. The background occurrence of selected clinical conditions prior to the start of an extensive national vaccination program in Japan. PloS one, 16:e0256379, 2021

11. Shibata M, Morozumi M, Maeda N, Komiyama O, Shiro H, Iwata S, Ubukata K. Relationship between intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis and group B streptococcal colonization dynamics in Japanese mother-neonate pairs. Journal of infection and chemotherapy: official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy, 27:977-983, 2021

12. Iwata S, Takata M, Morozumi M, Miyairi I, Matsubara K, Ubukata K. Drastic reduction in pneumococcal meningitis in children owing to the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines: Longitudinal analysis from 2002 to 2016 in Japan. Journal of infection and chemotherapy: official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy, 27:604-612, 2021