Contamination of trypan blue with Burkholderia cepacia in a cornea bank.
OBJECTIVE
To describe Burkholderia cepacia contamination of a cornea bank and the measures taken to identify and eliminate the source of infection.


METHODS
Cultures were performed to assess the extent and source of contamination, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used for molecular typing.


RESULTS
Routine surveillance cultures identified 5 contaminated corneas during a 10-day period. Additional cultures showed that 28 of 88 samples were positive for this organism. Environmental investigation showed that an open bottle of trypan blue used to assess corneal morphology was contaminated with the epidemic strain.


CONCLUSIONS
Trypan blue played a major role in this contamination of corneas. This episode shows that microbial contamination can affect transplanted corneas despite ongoing culture surveillance and suggests that new methods may be needed to avoid this risk.
Morel
Pascal C
PC
Unité de Thérapie Cellulaire et Génique, Etablissement Français du Sang, Besançon, France.
Roubi
Nora
N
Talon
Daniel R
DR
Bertrand
Xavier
X
D019121:Burkholderia Infections / Q000209:etiology*; D016956:Burkholderia cepacia / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004396:Coloring Agents; D016039:Corneal Transplantation / Q000592:standards*; D003470:Culture Media; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D005125:Eye Banks; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013048:Specimen Handling; D014343:Trypan Blue
D004396:Coloring Agents; D003470:Culture Media; D014343:Trypan Blue