Benchmarking Hospital-Onset NTM: A New Study Sets the Bar

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly recognized as healthcare-associated pathogens, especially in high-risk populations. But how common are hospital-onset (HO) NTM cases, and how should hospitals track them?

A new multicenter study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases offers the most comprehensive look yet at HO NTM across a network of 10 U.S. academic hospitals from 2012 to 2020.

Key findings?:

• Over 12,800 unique NTM episodes were identified - 24% were classified as hospital-onset

• HO NTM rates varied widely, from 0.35 to 5.48 per 10,000 patient-days across hospitals

• In a 7-hospital cohort, HO NTM incidence declined by 38% between 2014 and 2020

• Water safety improvements and equipment disinfection practices likely played a key role

What makes this paper important is its push toward standardized NTM surveillance definitions—something that’s long been lacking! The authors applied a consistent definition (cultures collected on day ≥3 of hospitalization) and showed that hospitals can feasibly use lab data to monitor HO NTM as a potential quality and safety metric.

This is not just about outbreaks. It’s about routine, background acquisition—and the systems we need to recognize and respond to it

📄 Read the study: https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaf169