Mycobacterium simiae pseudo-outbreak resulting from a contaminated hospital water supply in Houston, Texas.
Various species of nontuberculous mycobacteria are known to cause nosocomial pseudo-outbreaks, but there have been no detailed reports of nosocomial Mycobacterium simiae pseudo-outbreaks. From April 1997 through February 2001, we recovered 65 M. simiae isolates from 62 patients at a community teaching hospital in Houston, Texas. The organism was grown in various water samples obtained in the hospital building and in professional building 1 but not in professional building 2, which has a separate water supply system. Thirty-one environmental and human outbreak-related M. simiae isolates had indistinguishable or closely related patterns on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and were considered clonal. M. simiae can be a cause of nosocomial pseudo-outbreaks. The reservoir for this pseudo-outbreak was identified as a contaminated hospital water supply.
El Sahly
Hana M
HM
Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Septimus
Edward
E
Soini
Hanna
H
Septimus
Joshua
J
Wallace
Richard J
RJ
Pan
Xi
X
Williams-Bouyer
Natalie
N
Musser
James M
JM
Graviss
Edward A
EA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply
D004269:DNA, Bacterial