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Faucets as a reservoir of endemic Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization/infections in intensive care units

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the role of faucets as a reservoir for Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization/infection of patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs).

Design

Prospective epidemiological investigation performed during a nonepidemic period of 1 year. The inner part of the ICU faucets were swabbed for P. aeruginosa. Data were recorded on all patients with at least one culture of a clinical specimens positive for P. aeruginosa. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to characterize the strains.

Setting

Five ICUs of a university hospital which are supplied by two separate water distribution networks.

Patients

During a 1-year period 132 cases were investigated.

Results

In 42% of cases (56/132) there were isolates identical to those found in the faucets, with a total of nine different genotypes. Among the nine genotypes isolated from both patients and faucets one of them, the most prevalent, was isolated in the two networks and in 30 cases. The other eight genotypes were recovered almost exclusively from either one (three genotypes in 12 cases) or the other (five genotypes in 12 cases) network and from the patients in the corresponding ICUs.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the water system of the ICUs was the primary reservoir of patient’s colonization/infection with P. aeruginosa in a substantial proportion of patients, although the exact mode of acquisition could not be determined.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the staff of ICUs and of the technique service of our hospital. We are also grateful to Dorothée Raffalli for laboratory assistance. This work was supported by a grant from the Common Research Program in Biomedical Engineering of the cantons of Vaud and Geneva, Switzerland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division autonome de médecine préventive hospitalière, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    D. S. Blanc, I. Nahimana, C. Petignat & P. Francioli

  2. Institut de Microbiologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    A. Wenger & J. Bille

Authors
  1. D. S. Blanc
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  2. I. Nahimana
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  3. C. Petignat
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  4. A. Wenger
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  5. J. Bille
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  6. P. Francioli
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Correspondence to D. S. Blanc.

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Blanc, D.S., Nahimana, I., Petignat, C. et al. Faucets as a reservoir of endemic Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization/infections in intensive care units. Intensive Care Med 30, 1964–1968 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-004-2389-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-004-2389-z

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