Improving Microbiological Monitoring of Hospital Surfaces: Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) as a New Approach for Rapid Nosocomial Pathogens Detection

TL;DR

This study shows that LAMP can quickly and accurately detect harmful bacteria on hospital surfaces, improving infection control.

Contribution

The study introduces LAMP as a fast and sensitive alternative to traditional methods for detecting hospital surface pathogens.

Findings

LAMP achieved 100% sensitivity for detecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus spp.

A 6-hour incubation time provided the best balance of speed and accuracy for LAMP testing.

LAMP outperformed traditional culture methods in terms of rapid detection and diagnostic reliability.

Abstract

Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue?
Hospital surfaces represent a recognized source of nosocomial pathogens involved in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).Gold-standard methods are time-consuming and may limit the effectiveness of infection prevention strategies.

Hospital surfaces represent a recognized source of nosocomial pathogens involved in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Gold-standard methods are time-consuming and may limit the effectiveness of infection prevention strategies.

Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health?
This study shows that LAMP allows rapid and sensitive detection of major nosocomial pathogens on hospital surfaces.Short incubation times enable faster environmental surveillance compared with conventional culture-based methods.

This study shows that LAMP allows rapid and sensitive detection of major nosocomial pathogens on hospital surfaces.

Short incubation times enable faster environmental surveillance compared with conventional culture-based methods.

Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers and/or re-searchers in public health?
Rapid molecular screening of hospital surfaces can support timely infection control decisions and targeted cleaning interventions.Targeted cleaning interventions optimize resource allocation and reduce unnecessary sanitation costs.

Rapid molecular screening of hospital surfaces can support timely infection control decisions and targeted cleaning interventions.

Targeted cleaning interventions optimize resource allocation and reduce unnecessary sanitation costs.

Hospital environments are recognized as significant reservoirs of nosocomial pathogens, contributing to the onset of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Timely microbiological monitoring is essential to mitigate infection risks. However, gold-standard methods based on culture and biochemical techniques are time-consuming and may underestimate microbial contamination, potentially delaying interventions. This study proposes a novel approach for surface monitoring using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for the rapid detection of key nosocomial pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus spp. A total of 145 surface samples were collected from six Italian hospitals and analyzed by both standard culture and LAMP methods, following two different incubation times (6 and 9 h) using pre-enrichment medium. Comparison with the reference method revealed that the LAMP assay achieved a sensitivity of 1.00 for all target pathogens at both 6 and 9 h of incubation. Specificity values were slightly higher at 6 h compared to 9 h: 0.93 vs 0.90 for P. aeruginosa, 0.91 vs 0.89 for Enterococcus spp., while remaining 0.92 for S. aureus, at both incubation times. These results suggest that a 6-h incubation period offers an optimal balance between speed and diagnostic accuracy, making LAMP a promising tool for rapid microbiological surveillance in healthcare settings.

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