Contamination of hand wash detergent linked to occupationally acquired melioidosis.
Two mechanics working at a garage in tropical northern Australia simultaneously developed upper limb melioidosis ulcers. Both patients had Burkholderia pseudomallei of identical pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) type (Spe I). Environmental sampling identified B. pseudomallei in a container of commercial hand wash detergent as the likely source of infection, although there were multiple isolates of different PFGE types to the clinical isolates.
Gal
Daniel
D
Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Mayo
Mark
M
Smith-Vaughan
Heidi
H
Dasari
Pallave
P
McKinnon
Melita
M
Jacups
Susan P
SP
Urquhart
Andrew I
AI
Hassell
Marilyn
M
Currie
Bart J
BJ
D000328:Adult; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003902:Detergents / Q000009:adverse effects; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008554:Melioidosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*
D003902:Detergents