Where to do water testing for Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a healthcare setting

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important nosocomial pathogen widely colonizing hospital water supplies. The Department of Health (England) Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 04-01 addresses the risk posed by recommending water-testing in augmented care areas including outpatient haemodialysis. We discuss how two teaching hospitals independently reviewed the risk to outpatient haemodialysis patients, drawing the same conclusion. The highest number of infection episodes with P. aeruginosa was observed in critical care followed by burns and haematology, with the lowest in haemodialysis. Based on these results, we suggest that water sampling should be undertaken in areas such as critical care, burns, and haematology, but not in outpatient haemodialysis.