Long-term laboratory contamination by Mycobacterium abscessus resulting in two pseudo-outbreaks: recognition with use of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) polymerase chain reaction.
Beginning in 1993, an increase in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium abscessus was observed in a single hospital microbiology laboratory. This involved a cluster of four patients in June 1993 and five patients and a quality-control culture of distilled water in May 1994. Twenty-three M. abscessus isolates recovered between 1991 and 1996 were compared by random amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR). Sixteen of 21 clinical isolates recovered over a 6-year period and the distilled water isolate had identical RAPD-PCR patterns consistent with a single strain or clone. Only six of 15 patients had findings suggestive of clinical disease. Since the use of in-house-prepared distilled water was discontinued, no further laboratory contamination of clinical specimens has been observed. Molecular typing was the key to defining distilled water as the source of this pseudo-outbreak. Recognition of such outbreaks is important for prevention of unnecessary therapeutic and diagnostic interventions.
Lai
K K
KK
Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA.
Brown
B A
BA
Westerling
J A
JA
Fontecchio
S A
SA
Zhang
Y
Y
Wallace
R J
RJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000209:etiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D014871:Water Microbiology
D004269:DNA, Bacterial