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. 1998 Oct;36(10):2914-7.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.36.10.2914-2917.1998.

Outbreak of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteremia among oncology patients

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Outbreak of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteremia among oncology patients

P R Hsueh et al. J Clin Microbiol. 1998 Oct.

Abstract

From 7 to 24 March 1997, four patients developed Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteremia at the hospital; one on the oncology ward and the other three in the chemotherapy room. These patients all had underlying malignancies and had the Port-A-Cath (Smiths Industries Medical Systems, Deltec, Inc., St. Paul, Minn.) implants. Three patients had primary bacteremia, and one had Port-A-Cath-related infection. None of these patients had received a blood transfusion before the episodes of bacteremia. All patients recovered: two received antimicrobial agents with in vitro activity against the isolates, and the other two did not have any antibiotic treatment. A total of eight blood isolates were recovered from these patients during the febrile episodes that occurred several minutes after the infusion of chemotherapeutic agents via the Port-A-Cath. These isolates were initially identified as P. fluorescens or Pseudomonas putida (four), Burkholderia (Ralstonia) pickettii (three), and a non-glucose-fermenting gram-negative bacillus (one) by routine biochemical methods and the Vitek GNI card. These isolates were later identified as P. fluorescens on the basis of the characteristic cellular fatty acid chromatogram and the results of supplemental biochemical tests. The identification of identical antibiotypes by the E test and the random amplified polymorphic DNA patterns generated by arbitrarily primed PCR of the isolates showed that the outbreak was caused by a single clone of P. fluorescens. Surveillance cultures of the possibly contaminated infusion fluids and disinfectants, which were performed 7 days after recognition of the last infected patient, failed to isolate P. fluorescens. This report of a small outbreak caused by P. fluorescens suggests that timely, accurate identification of unusual nosocomial pathogens is crucial for early initiation of an epidemiological investigation and timely control of an outbreak.

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Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Cellular fatty acid chromatograms of P. fluorescens (A) and P. putida (B). All eight epidemiologically related isolates, the three clinical isolates, and the control strain of P. fluorescens have chromatograms identical to the chromatograms shown for P. fluorescens. Chromatograms of 15 clinical isolates and the control strain of P. putida are identical.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
RAPD patterns of the 10 isolates of P. fluorescens obtained with the two primers. Lane M, molecular size markers (1-kb ladder; Gibco BRL, Gaithersburg, Md.); lanes E and F, isolates E and F, respectively; lanes A to D3, isolates from patients 1 (A), 2 (B1 and B2), 3 (C1 and C2), and 4 (D1 to D3) (see Table 1 for the origins of the isolates). Molecular sizes in kilobase pairs are indicated to the left of the gel.

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