Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T13:21:28.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pseudo-Outbreak of Clostridium sordellii Infection following Probable Cross-Contamination in a Hospital Clinical Microbiology Laboratory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

David M. Aronoff ,
Tennille Thelen ,
Seth T. Walk ,
Kathleen Petersen ,
Julia Jackson ,
Sylvia Grossman ,
James Rudrik ,
Duane W. Newton  and
Carol E. Chenoweth
David M. Aronoff*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Lansing, Michigan
Tennille Thelen
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Lansing, Michigan
Seth T. Walk
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Lansing, Michigan
Kathleen Petersen
Affiliation:
Department of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Lansing, Michigan
Julia Jackson
Affiliation:
Department of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Lansing, Michigan
Sylvia Grossman
Affiliation:
Clinical Microbiology Laboratories, Department of Pathology, Lansing, Michigan
James Rudrik
Affiliation:
University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, and the Bureau of Laboratories, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, Michigan
Duane W. Newton
Affiliation:
Clinical Microbiology Laboratories, Department of Pathology, Lansing, Michigan
Carol E. Chenoweth
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Lansing, Michigan
*
4618-C Medical Sciences BIdg II, 1150 W Medical Center Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5623, ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

We report a pseudo-outbreak of infection caused by Clostridium sordellii, an uncommon human pathogen. The pseudo-outbreak involved 6 patients and was temporally associated with a change by the clinical microbiology laboratory in the protocol of handling anaerobic culture specimens. All isolates were genetically indistinguishable from a laboratory reference strain used for quality control.

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 31 , Issue 6 , June 2010 , pp. 640 - 642
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Aldape, MJ, Bryant, AE, Stevens, DL. Clostridium sordellii infection: epidemiology, clinical findings, and current perspectives on diagnosis and treatment. Clin Infect Dis 2006;43:1436–1446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Popoff, MR. Purification and characterization of Clostridium sordellii lethal toxin and cross-reactivity with Clostridium difficile cytotoxin. Infect Immun 1987;55:35–43.Google Scholar
3.Martinez, RD, Wilkins, TD. Purification and characterization of Clostridium sordellii hemorrhagic toxin and cross-reactivity with Clostridium difficile toxin A (enterotoxin). Infect Immun 1988;56:1215–1221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Hao, Y, Senn, T, Opp, JS, et al.Lethal toxin is a critical determinant of rapid mortality in rodent models of Clostridium sordellii endometritis. Anaerobe 2009 [Epub ahead of print].Google Scholar
5.Menon, A, Stefanova, R, Mwangi, P, Ruhe, J, Hoffman, K, Woods, GL. A pseudo-outbreak of Clostridium sordellii linked to contamination with a laboratory reference strain. Paper presented at: 16th Annual Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, March 18-21,2006; Chicago, IL.Google Scholar
6.Lynch, JM, Anderson, A, Camacho, FR, Winters, AK, Hodges, GR, Barnes, WG. Pseudobacteremia caused by Clostridium sordellii. Arch Intern Med 1980;140:65–68.Google Scholar
7.McGregor, JA, Equils, O. Risks of mifepristone abortion in context: author reply. Contraception 2006;74:175–176.Google Scholar
8.McGregor, JA, Soper, DE, Lovell, G, Todd, JK. Maternal deaths associated with Clostridium sordellii infection. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1989;161:987–995.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Clabots, CR, Johnson, S, Bettin, KM, et al.Development of a rapid and efficient restriction endonuclease analysis typing system for Clostridium difficile and correlation with other typing systems. J Clin Microbiol 1993; 31:1870–1875.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Klaassen, CH, van Haren, HA, Horrevorts, AM. Molecular fingerprinting of Clostridium difficile isolates: pulsed-field gel electrophoresis versus amplified fragment-length polymorphism. J Clin Microbiol 2002;40:101–104.Google Scholar