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Malassezia furfur Skin Colonization in Infancy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Louis M. Bell ,
Gershon Alpert ,
Paula Horton Slight  and
Joseph M. Campos
Louis M. Bell*
Affiliation:
Division of General Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, and the Division of Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and The Children's National Medical Center, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Washington, DC
Gershon Alpert
Affiliation:
Division of General Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, and the Division of Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and The Children's National Medical Center, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Washington, DC
Paula Horton Slight
Affiliation:
Division of General Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, and the Division of Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and The Children's National Medical Center, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Washington, DC
Joseph M. Campos
Affiliation:
Division of General Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, and the Division of Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and The Children's National Medical Center, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Washington, DC
*
Division of Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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Abstract

Malassezia furfur, a lipophilic yeast, has become recognized as a cause of sepsis in infants receiving parenteral fat emulsions via indwelling deep venous catheters. Colonization of infants' skin may be a prerequisite to colonization of the intravascular catheter and subsequent infection with M furfur. Three hundred ninety-three surveillance cultures were performed on 146 infants during their first 12 weeks of hospitalization in the intensive care unit (ICU) or the neonatal transitional unit (NTU). In addition, 47 full-term newborn infants and 38 healthy infants in the well-baby clinic were cultured. Colonization rates were greatest (48%) during the second month of hospitalization for the infants in the ICU/NTU group. In contrast, 0 of 47 newborn infants and 2 of 38 healthy infants were colonized. Prematurity and a prolonged length of stay were identified as risk factors for colonization.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , April 1988 , pp. 151 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1988

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