title: Acquisition of Mycobacterium abscessus among ventilator-dependent patients in Taiwan chronic respiratory care facilities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the acquisition of Mycobacterium abscessus among ventilator-dependent patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively recruited ventilator-dependent patients in five respiratory care wards (RCWs). Respiratory specimens were cultured for mycobacteria on day 1 (D1), 3 months (M3) and 6 months (M6) after enrollment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  72 patients had cultures taken at all three time points. The proportion of patients with a culture positive for M. abscessus increased from 15.3% (11/72) on D1 to 30.6% (22/72) at M3 and 38.9% (28/72) at M6. Two M. abscessus subspecies abscessus isolates obtained from different patients had identical randomly amplified polymorphic DNA patterns. Being in RCW D and advanced age were significantly associated with initial cultures positivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study reveals that acquisition of M. abscessus was common among ventilator-dependent patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.|Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.|Institute of Preventive Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Internal Medicine, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Meng-Rui
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Jung
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jia-Ying
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shih-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jen-Chung
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hao-Chien
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chong-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Na
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Po-Ren
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Hsueh
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D006801:Humans; D058889:Molecular Typing; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D053717:Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: M. abscessus; M. abscessus subspecies abscessus; M. abscessus subspecies massiliense; Taiwan; chronic respiratory care wards; dendrogram; nontuberculous mycobacteria; ventilator-dependent patients