Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:55:28.079Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nosocomial Mycobacterium gordonae Pseudoinfection From Contaminated Ice Machines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Anand P. Panwalker  and
Elizabeth Fuhse
Anand P. Panwalker*
Affiliation:
Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical Center and, Thomas Jefferson University, Wilmington, Delaware
Elizabeth Fuhse
Affiliation:
Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical Center and, Thomas Jefferson University, Wilmington, Delaware
*
Veterans Administration Medical Center and, Thomas Jefferson Unwersity, 1601 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE 19805
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Thirty-two clinical specimens submitted to the laboratory during a 12-month period from July 1980 to June 1981 were reported to be culture-positive for Mycobacterium gordonae, an organism generally considered to be a slow-growing saprophyte with natural habitats which include soil and water. Only seven similar isolates had been recovered in the preceding 4½ year period. The discordance between clinical findings and the mycobacterial cultures suggested extrinsic contamination of the specimens. Contamination in the laboratory was believed unlikely because: 1) clinical samples obtained in an aseptic manner were never contaminated; 2) various surveillance cultures of reagents and deionized water used in the laboratory were negative; and 3) substitution of deionized water with sterile water did not control the outbreak. Extensive hospital-wide cultures of water sources implicated the use of ice and ice water from contaminated ice machines as the source of this pseudoepidemic. Cleaning of the ice machines resulted in a sharp decrease in the number of M. gordonae isolates. Pseudoinfection by M. gordonae from improperly maintained ice machines has not been reported before.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , February 1986 , pp. 67 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Yeager, H, Olher mycobacterium species, in Mandeli, GL, Douglas, RG, Bennett, JE (eds): Principles and Practice of Infections Diseases. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1979, pp 1953–1962.Google Scholar
2.Lohr, DC, Goeken, JA, Doty, DB, et al: Mycobacterium gordonae infection of a prosthetic aortic valve. JAMA 1978;239:1528–1530.Google Scholar
3.Shelley, WB, Folkens, AT, Mycobacterium gordonae infection of the hand. Arch Dermatol 1984;120:1064–1065.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Gonzalez, EP, Crosby, RMN, Walker, SH, Mycobacterium aquae infection in a hydrocephalic child (Mycobacterium aquae meningitis). Pediatrics 1971;48:974–977.Google Scholar
5.Feld, R, Bodey, GP, Gröschel, D, Mycobacteriosis in patients with malignant disease. Arch Intern Med 1976;136:67–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Steere, AC, A cluster of Mycobacterium gordonae isolates from bronchoscopy specimens. Am Rev Respir Dis 1979;120:214–216.Google Scholar
7.Gangaharam, PRJ, Lockhart, JA. Awe, RJ, et al: Mycobacterium contamination through tap water. Am Rev Respir Dis 1976;113:894.Google Scholar
8.Dizon, D, Mihailescu, C, Bae, HG, Simple procedure for detection of Mycobacterium gordonae in water causing false-positive acid-fast smears, J Clin Microbiol 1976;3:211.Google Scholar
9.Newsom, SWB, Hospital infection from contaminated ice. Lancet 1968;2:620–623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Stamm, WE, Colella, JJ, Anderson, RL, et al: Indwelling arterial catheters as a source of nosocomial bacteremia: An outbreak caused by flavobacterium species. N Engl J Med 1975;292:1099–1102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Murphey, SA, Jungkind, DL, Adams, K, M. avium-inlracellulare in a hospital hot water system: Epidemiologic investigation. Abstract #1047, Abstracts of the Twenty-Third Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agentsand Chemotherapy, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 1983.Google Scholar
12.Petersen, NJ, “Don't culture ice machines.” Hosp Infect Control 1982;9:8–9.Google Scholar
13.Weinslein, RA, Stamm, WE, Pseudoepidemics in hospital. Lancet 1977;2(8043:862–864.CrossRefGoogle Scholar