Dr. Michelle Alfa
 
Clinical Microbiologist, Diagnostic Services of Manitoba
Medical Director, Microbiology Discipline, Diagnostic Services of Manitoba Professor, Dept of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba

Degrees: B.Sc. (Manitoba, 1975), M.Sc. (Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 1980), Ph.D., (Alberta 1986)

Mailing Address: Microbiology, St. Boniface Hospital
L4025 - 409 Tache Ave
Winnipeg, MB
R2H 2A6

Tel: (204) 237-2105 Fax: (204) 237-7678 Lab: (204) 235-3498
E-mail: malfa@dsmanitoba.ca
Research Interests:

Dr. Alfa’s research interests focus on nosocomial infections related to Clostridium difficile and medical device reprocessing issues.  Her C.difficile research includes; environmental contamination with C.difficile spores and how this plays a role in infection transmission within healthcare, alternative therapeutics using functional foods/neutraceuticals and the impact of C.difficile and antibiotic perturbations on the gut microbiome evaluated using the human gut model.  The presence of C. difficile spores in retail meat (1) indicates that community associated C. difficile disease may be linked with consumption of spores.  A recent assessment of C.difficile clinical isolates from across Manitoba indicated that pulsotype 2 was predominant in Manitoba (3).

A recent clinical study (2) demonstrated that use of an Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide formulation (0.5% hydrogen peroxide) for cleaning of patient toilets resulted in significantly lower levels of C.difficile spores compared to the currently used cleaning agent that had no sporicidal activity.  A critical factor in reducing the load of spores in the environment is ensuring housekeeping compliance.  Studies from Dr. M. Alfa’s research lab (2).

Medical device reprocessing presents many challenges, especially those with narrow lumens such as flexible endoscopes.  Dr. Alfa's group recently published validation studies on rapid tests to assess the adequacy of manual cleaning of flexible endoscopes (4, 5, 6, 7).

Recent Publications:

  1. Visser M, Shadi Sepehri, Olson N, T Du, M Mulvey, M Alfa. Detection of Clostridium difficile in retail ground meat products in Manitoba, Canada.  Canadian J Infect Dis. Med Microbiol 2011 (in press).
  2. Alfa, Michelle J., E. Lo, A. Wald, C. Dueck, P. DeGagne, GKM Harding.  Improved eradication of C. difficile spores from toilets of hospitalized patients using an accelerated hydrogen peroxide as the cleaning agent.  BMC Infectious Diseases 2010 Sep 15;10:268.
  3. Karlowsky JA, Zhanel GG, Hammond GW, Rubinstein E, Wylie J,  Du T, Mulvey MR and Alfa MJ.  Multidrug-resistant North American pulsotype 2 Clostridium difficile was the predominant toxigenic hospital-acquired strain in the province of Manitoba, Canada, in 2006-2007. Journal of Medical Microbiology. 2012;61, [In press].
  4. Alfa MJ, Olson N, Degagne P, Simner PJ. Development and validation of rapid use scope test strips (RUST) to determine the efficacy of manual cleaning for flexible endoscope channels.  Am J Infect Control 2012 Feb 6 (Epub ahead of print)
  5. Alfa MJ, Fatima I, Olson N. The ATP test is a rapid and reliable audit tool to assess manual cleaning adequacy of flexible endoscope channels. Am J Infect Control (in press).
  6. Alfa MJ, Fatima I, Olson N. Validation of ATP to Audit Manual Cleaning of Flexible.
  7. Alfa MJ,Sepehri S, Olson N. Wald. Establishing a clinically relevant bioburden benchmark: A quality indicator for adequate reprocessing and storage of flexible gastrointestinal endoscopes. Am J. Infect Control. 2012, 40:233-6.
Laboratory Members:
Nancy Olson Research Technologist       nolson@sbrc.ca 235-3498
     


NOT LOOKING FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS (MASTERS, PhD, POST-DOCS) WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR