The role of the Hospital San Jorge de Pereira
The San Jorge Hospital Infections Committee was part of a research group made up of universities and institutions from several countries that carried out a study on antibiotic-resistant bacteria whose results were published by a renowned international scientific publication.
By Oscar Osorio Ospina
Karen Melissa Ordoñez Díaz, a doctor from the National University of Colombia, specialized in Internal Medicine and with a sub-specialization in Infectious Diseases and president of the Infections Committee of the San Jorge de Pereira University Hospital, is the professional who has been part of these investigations that developed in a period of four years and whose results are being disclosed in the scientific world. We talked with her about this complex issue, which is of special importance in the world of medicine.
What is the content of the article published by an international scientific journal about an investigation in which the Hospital San Jorge participated?
The article that has just been published is the product of a research work that was carried out between 2017 and 2020, it is the second article that comes out of that great study. This second part was devoted to the study of Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistant to carbapenems, where the mechanisms by which the bacteria developed resistance to the antibiotic were evaluated, and how the patients fared with the infection by this germ, and their results were published by the magazine The Lancet Microbe.
This in less scientific terms, what does that mean?
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the name of a bacterium that generates a lot of resistance to antibiotics. What the study did was evaluate how the patients responded to that infection and the treatment that was given to that infection in terms of mortality and in terms of readmission. And the study also evaluated the mechanisms by which the bacteria became resistant to the group of antibiotics called carbapenems, which are one of the strongest antibiotics we have to treat infections.
Which universities and which institutions in the world participated in this study, along with the San Jorge Hospital?
Professionals from several countries participated in this study. This work was directed by a scientific research group from the United States and Latin America with the participation of professionals from institutions in Colombia, Argentina and Chile, from Central America Nicaragua did, from North America the United States and in the world participated from China and Saudi Arabia.
In the case of Colombia, which entities were part of this scientific research?
The Imbanaco Medical Center, the San Ignacio Hospital in Bogotá, the General Hospital of the North in Barranquilla, the Erasmo Meoz Hospital in Cúcuta and the San Jorge de Pereira University Hospital participate in ours.
What issues were addressed in the first part of this investigation?
The first was on another bacterium called Klebsiella pneumoniae, that study was also published two years ago in a very important journal called Lancet Infect.
What is the importance of this research for medicine?
For the scientific world it is very important, because it allows us to know the mechanisms by which the bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics and knowing these mechanisms helps us to know which of the new antibiotics can be useful in different countries. By taking into account the results of the study, we know the antibiotics that may be useful in China for Pseudomonas there, but that will not be as useful for Pseudomonas here in South America.
Are you currently working on a third part of the study?
No, that study is over. We developed this study from 2017 to 2019 and in 2020 the publications were made. It was an investigation in which they worked very hard, it was quite hard work and now what is being done are the scientific publications. But a third publication is pending on another bacteria resistant to carbapenems that is under evaluation by another scientific journal.
Are there other investigations in which the San Jorge hospital is participating?
Recently we just received very good news that a study was approved in the United States on Staphylococcus Aureus, is a very important bacterium because it causes infections in the skin, muscles and bones, it causes serious infections in the blood and the idea of this study is to review the mechanisms of resistance to cefazolin. Authorization has just been given and the idea is to start working on it, possibly at the end of the year. We are going to do it from the San Jorge Hospital, obviously in collaboration with the Universidad del Bosque, which is the one with which we have carried out all these studies, and with the UGRA group, the Antimicrobial Resistance Genetic Unit of the Universidad del Bosque, who has sought all these sponsorships internationally.
In the hospital, which team works with you in this type of activity?
The Microbiology team of the Clinical Laboratory is the one with whom we obviously do all this that involves microorganisms, doing laboratory tests, antibiograms, resistance gene identification tests… Doing research is very difficult, although people think it is very difficult. easy and cheap. But no, it’s time to have a lot of money, what I do from the infection side is to work in collaboration with stronger research groups. Here the hospital gives us support with the laboratory which, fortunately, has very good technology and very good staff. If the laboratory did not have the quality that was shown in 2017, they would not have chosen us for that study. It was my turn to go and show all the technology we have and demonstrate that it is a laboratory that does things well so that they would take us into account to participate in this.
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Glossary of terms
Pseudomonas aeruginosa It is a ubiquitous, opportunistic and fairly persistent pathogen in the environment. This pathogen can persist effectively in water and soil living with minimal nutritional requirements and tolerating various physical environments.
Infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be: blood, heart valve, lung, urinary tract (kidney and bladder), bone, infections caused by body piercings, rashes on the body after using a jacuzzi, infections in the nails, in the ears of the swimmers, among others.
Carbapenem drugs are broad-spectrum antibiotics, meaning they are effective against many types of bacteria, including bacteria that are resistant to many other antibiotics.