Pseudooutbreak of Pantoea species bacteremia associated with contaminated cotton pledgets

• Published in: American journal of infection control Vol. 34; no. 7; pp. 443 - 446
• Main Authors: Koo, Hyun-Sook, Kim, Jae-Seok, Eom, Joong-Sik, You, Ji-Young, Park, Ji-Young, Kim, Han-Sung, Song, Wonkeun, Cho, Hyoun Chan, Lee, Kyu Man
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: St. Louis, MO Mosby, Inc 01-09-2006; Mosby
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Bacteremia - epidemiology; Bacteremia - microbiology; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial sepsis; Biological and medical sciences; Cotton Fiber; Disease Outbreaks; Epidemiology. Vaccinations; Female; General aspects; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - epidemiology; Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - microbiology; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infant; Infectious diseases; Korea - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; Pantoea - genetics; Pantoea - isolation & purification; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Asia; Korea; Infection; Prevention; Bacteriosis; Check; Bacteria; Pantoea; Bacteremia; Contamination; Enterobacteriaceae; Epidemic; Biomedical equipment; Nosocomial infection; Biology; Hospital; Hygiene
• ISSN: 0196-6553; 1527-3296
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2006.07.001

A total of 22 isolates of
Pantoea strains, unusual causative agents of clinical infection, was isolated from blood cultures from 9 patients and 1 ear swab from 1 of the patients within a period of 1 month in a tertiary-care hospital. Pseudooutbreak was suspected because specimens were collected from a limited number of places and the patients did not show consistent signs or symptoms of bacterial sepsis. Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and partial 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing were performed to determine the clonal relationship among the isolates. Screening environmental cultures revealed that cotton pledgets were contaminated with
Pantoea species. Molecular typing suggested that 2 different clones of
Pantoea strains were responsible for the pseudooutbreak. Cotton materials may be a possible source of
Pantoea pseudooutbreak. Molecular typing is useful for investigating epidemics and identifying unusual clinical isolates.