title: Mycobacterium simiae pseudo-outbreak resulting from a contaminated hospital water supply in Houston, Texas.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Hana M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: El Sahly
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Septimus
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Soini
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Septimus
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Williams-Bouyer
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Musser
authors.forename: Edward A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Graviss
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial