Spontaneous decolonization during hospitalization in intensive care unit patients colonized by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales.

Abstract We aimed to analyze how frequently spontaneous decolonization occurred in intensive care unit patients colonized by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E), to assess the added value of continuing weekly ESBL-E rectal carriage screening. We included 49,468 weekly rectal screening samples taken from 20,846 patients over 12 years. Among the 4,280 ESBL-E carriers, only 109 patients (2.5%) could be considered decolonized at the end of their hospitalization with at least three consecutive negative samples. Overall, 7,957 samples (16.1%) were requested for patients already identified as ESBL-E carriers. Avoiding unnecessary weekly screening following positive ESBL-E colonization results could decrease nursing and laboratory workloads.