A napkin-associated outbreak of Burkholderia cenocepacia bacteraemia in haemodialysis patients.

This article reports a catheter-related outbreak of bacteraemia involving 38 patients in two haemodialysis units in Verona. Burkholderia cepacia complex strains were isolated from human blood and from an individually wrapped disinfection napkin that was contained in a commercially available, sterile dressing kit used to handle central venous catheters. Micro-organisms isolated from blood cultures and from the napkin were identified by standard procedures and confirmed as B. cenocepacia (genomovar III) by molecular analysis. Using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis, the clinical isolates were indistinguishable or closely related to the B. cenocepacia isolated from the napkin. In conclusion, this study found that a contaminated commercial napkin soaked in quaternary ammonium, even when quality certified, was the source of infection.

[Statistical data of the blood cultures of the years 1975-1976 at the Hospital of Verona (author's transl)]. / Statistica delle emocolture eseguite dal Servizio di Microbiologia degli Istituti Ospitalieri di Verona dal 1975 al 1976.

Data are presented of the blood cultures done by the Laboratory of Microbiology of the Hospital of Verona. Of 1882 cultures, 288 (15%) were positive; the number of isolates was greater in cultures from Intensive Care and Medicine units.