title: Wound and soft tissue infections of Serratia marcescens in patients receiving wound care: A health care-associated outbreak.
abstract: We described a health care-associated Serratia marcescens outbreak of wound and soft tissue infection lasting approximately 11 months at Ankara University Ibni Sina Hospital. After identification of S marcescens strains from the clinical and environmental samples, and their susceptibility testing to antimicrobial agents, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was performed to detect molecular epidemiologic relationships among these isolates. The strains which were isolated from the saline bottles used for wound cleansing in the wound care unit were found to be 100% interrelated by PFGE to the strains from the samples of the outbreak patients. Reuse of the emptied bottles has no longer been allowed since the outbreak occurred. Besides, more efficient and frequent infection control training for hospital staff has been conducted.
authors.affiliation: Central Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Ibni Sina Hospital, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey; Clinical Microbiology Department, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: Ebru.Us@medicine.ankara.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Ebru
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Us
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Mus State Hospital, Mus, Turkey.
authors.forename: Huseyin H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kutlu
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Department, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tekeli
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Ankara Diskapi Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Duygu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ocal
authors.affiliation: Infection Control Committee, Ibni Sina Hospital, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sevilay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cirpan
authors.affiliation: Infection Control Committee, Ibni Sina Hospital, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey; Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Department, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kemal O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Memikoglu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004340:Drug Contamination; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D058889:Molecular Typing; D016868:Serratia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D018461:Soft Tissue Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride
keywords: Health care–associated outbreak; Serratia marcescens; Wound and soft tissue infections