Pseudo-outbreak of Clostridium sordellii infection following probable cross-contamination in a hospital clinical microbiology laboratory.
We report a pseudo-outbreak of infection caused by Clostridium sordellii, an uncommon human pathogen. The pseudo-outbreak involved 6 patients and was temporally associated with a change by the clinical microbiology laboratory in the protocol of handling anaerobic culture specimens. All isolates were genetically indistinguishable from a laboratory reference strain used for quality control.
Aronoff
David M
DM
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. daronoff@umich.edu
Thelen
Tennille
T
Walk
Seth T
ST
Petersen
Kathleen
K
Jackson
Julia
J
Grossman
Sylvia
S
Rudrik
James
J
Newton
Duane W
DW
Chenoweth
Carol E
CE
D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D047989:Paraclostridium sordellii / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013048:Specimen Handling
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