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Nosocomial Mycobacterium gordonae Pseudoinfection From Contaminated Ice Machines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Anand P. Panwalker  and
Elizabeth Fuhse
Anand P. Panwalker*
Affiliation:
Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical Center and, Thomas Jefferson University, Wilmington, Delaware
Elizabeth Fuhse
Affiliation:
Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Veterans Administration Medical Center and, Thomas Jefferson University, Wilmington, Delaware
*
Veterans Administration Medical Center and, Thomas Jefferson Unwersity, 1601 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE 19805
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Abstract

Thirty-two clinical specimens submitted to the laboratory during a 12-month period from July 1980 to June 1981 were reported to be culture-positive for Mycobacterium gordonae, an organism generally considered to be a slow-growing saprophyte with natural habitats which include soil and water. Only seven similar isolates had been recovered in the preceding 4½ year period. The discordance between clinical findings and the mycobacterial cultures suggested extrinsic contamination of the specimens. Contamination in the laboratory was believed unlikely because: 1) clinical samples obtained in an aseptic manner were never contaminated; 2) various surveillance cultures of reagents and deionized water used in the laboratory were negative; and 3) substitution of deionized water with sterile water did not control the outbreak. Extensive hospital-wide cultures of water sources implicated the use of ice and ice water from contaminated ice machines as the source of this pseudoepidemic. Cleaning of the ice machines resulted in a sharp decrease in the number of M. gordonae isolates. Pseudoinfection by M. gordonae from improperly maintained ice machines has not been reported before.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , February 1986 , pp. 67 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1986

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