title: Pseudo-outbreak of hepatitis B virus infection associated with contamination of a semiautomatic cap remover.
abstract: A pseudo-outbreak of hepatitis B virus caused by cross-contamination from a semiautomatic cap remover for blood collection tubes is reported. The source of the outbreak was elucidated by using basic epidemiological methods. Laboratories should always be critical about their results in order to identify contamination problems.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, St Elisabeth Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands. b.diederen@elisabeth.nl
authors.forename: Bram M W
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Diederen
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Verhulst
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van't Veen
authors.forename: Peter H J
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: van Keulen
authors.forename: Jan A J W
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kluytmans
mesh_terms: D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens