Control of Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) bacteraemia in the intensive care and paediatric units

Investigation and control of nosocomial bacteraemia caused by Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia in the Intensive Care and Paediatric Units of a general care hospital.

A cross-sectional analytical study.

Departments of Pathology, Intensive Care and Paediatrics, Kahota Research Laboratory Hospital, Islamabad from January 1998 to June 2002.

Blood cultures from patients admitted to Intensive Care Unit and Paediatric Ward were inoculated into brain heart infusion broth and incubated for upto 10 days. Any Gram-negative rods isolated were characterized by API-20E. Environmental samples were inoculated on blood and MacConkey's agars and isolates, if any, were identified as above. Intensive intervention in the form of hand washing, strict adherence to aseptic practices and standard sterilization techniques were adopted and then cultures were again carried out with similar methodology.

Cultures yielded 58 strains of Burkholderia cepacia, 52 from blood cultures and 6 from hospital environment, including 1 from the washbasin of the ICU. Thirty- four of these were isolated before intervention measures were adopted, mainly during 1998. Findings suggested a strong probability of nosocomial transmission, with washbasin as the common source. After a lapse of about a year, B. cepacia infection re-emerged in a sporadic form but remaining confined to paediatric unit. Only 18 isolates were yielded over the next two and-a-half years.

The intervention measures for Burkholderia bacteraemia within the hospital, proved effective in stopping the nosocomial transmission leading to disappearance of B. cepacia from blood cultures. We emphasize the crucial role of hand hygienic practices in the hospital setting, especially in critical care units.