The hospital microbiome project: meeting report for the UK science and innovation network UK-USA workshop ‘beating the superbugs: hospital microbiome studies for tackling antimicrobial resistance’, October 14th 2013

Jack Westwood,Dawn Field,Susan Hopkins,Claire Kidgell,Peter Hoffman,Martin Anyim,Alison Holmes,Matthew Burnett,Julian Parkhill,Lara Bethke,Mark Sutton,Chris Smith,Emma Hutley,Sally Wellsteed,Josh Quick,Neil Woodford,Philip Marsh,Tony Pickering,Ghada Zoubiane,Beryl Oppenheim,Anthony Kessel,Gabriella Gilkes,Ginny Moore,Peter Wilson,Jimmy Walker,Anna Cichowska,Daniel J Wilson ,David W Cleary ,Derrick W Crook ,Andrew Green ,Michael C Ball ,Julie V Robotham ,Benjamin C Kirkup ,Mark H Wilcox ,David A Spratt ,Jack A Gilbert

doi:10.1186/1944-3277-9-12

Abstract

The UK Science and Innovation Network UK-USA workshop ‘Beating the Superbugs: Hospital Microbiome Studies for tackling Antimicrobial Resistance’ was held on October 14th 2013 at the UK Department of Health, London. The workshop was designed to promote US-UK collaboration on hospital microbiome studies to add a new facet to our collective understanding of antimicrobial resistance. The assembled researchers debated the importance of the hospital microbial community in transmission of disease and as a reservoir for antimicrobial resistance genes, and discussed methodologies, hypotheses, and priorities. A number of complementary approaches were explored, although the importance of the built environment microbiome in disease transmission was not universally accepted. Current whole genome epidemiological methods are being pioneered in the UK and the benefits of moving to community analysis are not necessarily obvious to the pioneers; however, rapid progress in other areas of microbiology suggest to some researchers that hospital microbiome studies will be exceptionally fruitful even in the short term. Collaborative studies will recombine different strengths to tackle the international problems of antimicrobial resistance and hospital and healthcare associated infections.

Highlights

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global challenge and costs the National Health Service (NHS) an estimated £1 billion a year, affecting tens of thousands of lives [1]
A Department of Health/DEFRA 5 year strategy for addressing AMR coincided with publication of the Antibiotic Resistance Threat Report by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention [3]
The Hospital Microbiome Project [7], led from the University of Chicago, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, brings these technologies together in a community ecology approach to the hospital, which is less directly connected to individually diagnosed infections and their control

Summary

Introduction

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global challenge and costs the NHS an estimated £1 billion a year, affecting tens of thousands of lives [1]. The Hospital Microbiome Project [7], led from the University of Chicago, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, brings these technologies together in a community ecology approach to the hospital, which is less directly connected to individually diagnosed infections and their control.

Results

Conclusion