The isolation of Burkholderia cepacia in a hospital setting in Sri Lanka

Burkholderia cepacia is widely prevalent in nature. The natural habitat of this organism is soil, water and vegetation, but the hospital environment remains the main source of infection. It causes a wide variety of infections in hospitalised patients. Since there are no reports of its prevalence in Sri Lanka, a data retrieval and analysis was undertaken to determine its incidence among patients at Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital (SJGH).

To determine the prevalence, morphological characteristics, biochemical profile and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of B cepacia in a Sri Lankan tertiary care hospital.

Relevant clinical data were retrieved from all isolates of B cepacia from SJGH for 12 months from October 1996. Standard procedures were used to isolate the organism from clinical specimens. API 20E was employed for biochemical identification. Antibiotic susceptibility tests was carried out using the modified Kirby Bauer method.

B cepacia was isolated from 17 patients. 16 of them were hospitalised and were from the medical, surgical, and intensive care units. All were in a compromised state of health. The organism was isolated from a variety of specimens which included swabs of surgical wounds, chronic ulcers, sputum, bronchial lavage, endotracheal aspirate, urine, peritoneal fluid and blood. Blood agar, MacConkey agar and cystine lactose electrolyte deficient medium supported the growth of all strains. They were motile Gram negative rods. All strains were oxidase positive. Strains gave variable results with other biochemical tests. Antibiograms too were variable. All strains were sensitive to ceftazidime, and the majority of the strains were sensitive to the other third generation cephalosporines. All strains were resistant to four or more antimicrobial agents included in the study. Of the 17 patients from whom B cepacia was isolated, only 9 seem to have had actual infection; others were probably instances of colonisation or contamination.

The present report confirms the prevalence and importance of B cepacia as a hospital pathogen in Sri Lanka. Hospital laboratories should be equipped to isolate, identify and perform antibiotic sensitivity test on these strains. Antibiotic susceptibility testing is necessary as the patterns seem to differ among strains. The multiple drug resistant nature of the organism warrants strict infection control measures to prevent spread in a hospital setting.