Alcaligenes odorans, var. viridans as a hospital infectant

The hazards of acquiring a nosocomial infection are significant even in modern hospitals in spite of aseptic procedures and antibiotics. In order to prevent or stop a hospital epidemic it is necessary to know or to recognize the infective agent, its source and its way of spreading. This is not always easy, esp. with some potential pathogens which are frequently found in the pathological materials as well as in the hospital environment. In the described series of hospital spread of Alcaligenes odorans, var. viridans, it was not difficult to identify the bacterium, it was easy to state the source and not very hard to eradicate it. The way of spreading, however, remained unclear. Hospital infections occur everywhere, even if sometimes unrecognized. With modern treatments facultatively pathogenic bacteria are increasingly becoming hospital infectants. Our aim was to look for such ones, esp. if not described yet as hospital infections.