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Hospital Water Supply as a Source of Disseminated Mycobacterium fortuitum Infection in a Leukemia Patient

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Juha Kauppinen
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Microbiology, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland
Tapio Nousiainen
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
Esa Jantunen
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
Rauni Mattila
Affiliation:
Department of Dermatology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
Marja-Leena Katila*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
*
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Kuopio University Hospital, POB 1777, 70210 Kuopio, Finland

Abstract

Nosocomial acquisition of Mycobacterium fortuitum led to a disseminated infection in a leukemia patient. A linkage to shower-head water was supported by molecular typing of clinical and environmental isolates. Contamination of the hospital water system with microbes that are relatively resistant to common sanitation processes poses an increased risk of infection to neutropenic patients.

Type
Concise Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1999

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