title: Baby bottle steam sterilizers for disinfecting home nebulizers inoculated with non-tuberculous mycobacteria.
abstract: Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTMb), present in environmental water sources, can contribute to respiratory infection in patients with chronic pulmonary disease. Contaminated nebulizers are a potential source of respiratory infection. Treatment with baby bottle steam sterilizers disinfects home nebulizers inoculated with bacterial pathogens but whether this method works for disinfection of NTMb is unclear. Baby bottle steam sterilization was compared with vigorous water washing for disinfecting home nebulizers inoculated with NTMb mixed with cystic fibrosis sputum. No NTMb was recovered from any nebulizers after steam treatment whereas viable NTMb grew after water washing, demonstrating that steam sterilization effectively disinfects NTMb-inoculated nebulizers.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Towle
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Callan
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lamprea
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Medical Sciences, Frank H. Netter MD, School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, USA; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: Thomas.murray2@quinnipiac.edu.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Murray
mesh_terms: D005191:Family Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000528:radiation effects; D009330:Nebulizers and Vaporizers / Q000382:microbiology*; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000528:radiation effects; D013227:Steam; D013242:Sterilization / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D013227:Steam
keywords: Cystic fibrosis; Disinfection; Nebulizer; Non-tuberculous mycobacteria