Addressing problems set by Pseudomonas

IHEEM's recent seminar in Birmingham, 'Dirty Little Secrets', not only focused on the key priorities for keeping surgical instruments clean and sterile (HEJ--April 2012), but also featured a timely presentation by Dr Jimmy Walker, principal investigator, Decontamination, HPA Microbiology Services, at the Health Protection Agency, in which the highly experienced microbiologist shared his expertise on what appears to be becoming an increasingly prevalent problem for healthcare estates and engineering personnel--how to ensure that levels of Pseudomonas, a waterborne bacterium potentially particularly harmful to immunocompromised patients, and often found in hospital water supplies, are rapidly detected, kept to a minimum, and, wherever possible, eliminated.