[Serratia marcescens outbreak in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Guayaquil, Ecuador].
We report a Serratia marcescens outbreak occurred in the NICU of a pediatric hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Nine cases of infection were detected, from which septicemia was developed in 55.5%. The index case was a newborn derived from another institution with septic arthritis caused by the outbreak strain. The infection rate was 17.6% and mortality rate was 33.3%. All isolates were resistant to aminoglycosides and susceptible to third generation cephalosporins and carbapenems. Clonality analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) revealed the presence of two closely related clones confirming the horizontal spread. Measures were taken by the committee such as: strengthening the hand hygiene, patient hygiene and cohort studies of gastrointestinal colonization, which allowed the control of the outbreak.
Laboratorio de Bacteriología, Hospital del niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante, Guayaquil, Ecuador, csoria@inspi.gob.ec.
Claudia
C
Soria
Comité de Control de infecciones asociadas a los cuidados de la salud, Hospital del niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Nelson
N
Nieto
Laboratorio de Bacteriología y Resistencia a Antimicrobianos, Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Salud Pública, Ecuador.
José E
JE
Villacís
Comité de Control de infecciones asociadas a los cuidados de la salud, Hospital del niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Sara
S
Lainez
Department of Infectious Diseases, Center for Vaccine and Immunology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Mónica
M
Cartelle
D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016868:Serratia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification*