Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T03:33:32.161Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Patients in the Intensive Care Unit are Exposed to Amoeba-Associated Pathogens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Bernard La Scola ,
Liazyd Mezi ,
Jean-Pierre Auffray ,
Yvon Berland  and
Didier Raoult
Bernard La Scola
Affiliation:
Unité des Rickettsies, Marseille, France
Liazyd Mezi
Affiliation:
Unité des Rickettsies, Marseille, France
Jean-Pierre Auffray
Affiliation:
Département d'anesthésie réanimation, Hôpital de Ste Marguerite, Marseille, France
Yvon Berland
Affiliation:
Service de Néphrologie-Hémodialyse, Hôpital de la Conception, Marseille, France
Didier Raoult*
Affiliation:
Unité des Rickettsies, Marseille, France
*
Unité des Rickettsies, CNRS UMR 6020, Faculté de médecine, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective:

To study the role of amoeba-associated alpha Proteobacteria as infecting agents in intensive care units (ICUs).

Design:

Amoeba-associated alpha Proteobacteria were isolated from water samples taken from ICU taps and general hospital reservoir tanks using an amoebal co-culture procedure. Isolates were identified by 16S rDNA gene sequence comparison, and one isolate of each species was used as an antigen in a microimmunofluorescence assay to test the sera of the patients in the ICUs and compare them with those of control subjects.

Setting:

The four university hospitals in Marseilles, France.

Patients:

The sera of 85 patients in the ICUs with nosocomial pneumonia were tested.

Results:

We isolated 64 bacterial strains that were identified as Afipia species or close relatives within the Rhizobiaceae subgroup of alpha Proteobacteria. These bacteria were assigned to 8 different species. Eleven patients were found to have an elevated antibody titer to either Afipia genospecies 1, or 3 still unnamed bacteria. No specific antibodies were detected in 100 control subjects (P<.01).

Conclusion:

These preliminary results support the hypothesis that ICU patients are exposed to amoeba-associated alpha Proteobacteria.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 23 , Issue 8 , August 2002 , pp. 462 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2002

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.Wenzel, RP. Hospital-acquired pneumonia: overview of the current state of the art for prevention and control. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 1989;8:56–60.Google Scholar
2.Marrie, TJ, Durant, H, Yates, L. Community-acquired pneumonia requiring hospitalization: 5-year prospective study. Rev Infect Dis 1989;11:586–599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Rutala, WA, Weber, DJ. Water as a reservoir of nosocomial pathogens. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1997;18:609–616.Google Scholar
4.Rowbotham, TJ. Isolation of Legionella pneumophila from clinical specimens via amoebae and the interaction of those and other isolates with amoebae. J Clin Pathol 1983;36:978–986.Google Scholar
5.Michel, R, Hauröder, B. Isolation of an Acanthamoeba strain with intracellular Burkholderia pickettii infection. Zentralbl Bakteriol 1997;285:541–557.Google Scholar
6.Rowbotham, TJ. Isolation of Legionella pneumophila from clinical specimens via amoebae and the interaction of those and other isolates with amoebae. J Clin Pathol 1980;33:1179–1183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Stout, JE, Yu, VL. Legionellosis. N Engl J Med 1997;337:682–687.Google Scholar
8.Barker, J, Brown, M. Trojan horses of the microbial world: protozoa and the survival of bacterial pathogens in the environment. Microbiology 1994;140:1253–1259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Marrie, TJ, Raoult, D, La Scola, B, Birtles, RJ, de Carolis, E. Legionella-like and other amoebal pathogens as agents of community acquired pneumonia. Emerg Infect Dis 2001;7:1026–1029.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.La Scola, B, Barrassi, L, Raoult, D. Isolation of new fastidious a Proteobacteria and Afipia felis from hospital water supplies by direct plating and amoebal co-culture procedures. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2000;34:29–137.Google Scholar
11.La Scola, B, Birtles, R, Mallet, MN, Raoult, D. Massilia timonae gent nov, sp. nov., isolated from blood of an immunocompromised patient with cerebellar lesions. J Clin Microbiol 1998;36:2847–2852.Google Scholar
12.English, CK, Wear, DJ, Margileth, AM, Lissner, CR, Walsh, GR. Cat-scratch disease: isolation and culture of the bacterial agent. JAMA 1988;259:1347–1351.Google Scholar
13.Brenner, DJ, Hollis, DG, Moss, CW, et al. Proposal of Afipia gen. nov, with Afipia felis sp. nov. (formerly the cat scratch disease bacillus), Afipia clevelandensis sp. nov. (formerly the Cleveland clinic foundation strain), Afipia broomeae sp. nov., and three unnamed genospecies. J Clin Microbiol 1991;29:2450–2460.Google Scholar
14.Hall, GS, Pratt-Rippin, K, Washington, JA. Isolation of agent associated with cat scratch disease bacillus from pretibial biopsy. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis 1991;14:511–513.Google Scholar
15.Drancourt, M, Brouqui, P, Raoult, D. Afipia clevelandensis antibodies and cross-reactivity with Brucella spp. and Yersinia enterocolitica 0:9. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol 1997;4:748–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Blomqvist, G, Wesslen, L, Pahison, C, et al. Phylogenetic placement and characterization of a new alpha-2 proteobacterium isolated from a patient with sepsis. J Clin Microbiol 1997;35:1988–1995.Google Scholar
17.Steenbergen, JN, Shuman, HA, Casadevall, A. Cryptococcus neoformans interactions with amoebae suggest an explanation for its virulence and intracellular pathogenic strategy in macrophages. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2001;98:15245–15250.Google Scholar