摘要
Escherichia coli has seldom been reported to cause pseudobacteremia. The investigation of an outbreak of amoxycillin clavulanic acid resistant E. coli pseudobacteremia is described. Seventeen cases occurred over a five day period. The source of the E. coli was traced to the blood culture specimen of a patient (index patient) with genuine bacteremia as a result of urinary tract infection. The other 16 case patients had pseudobacteremia which was found to be the result of cross contamination during subculture of blood specimens. The E. coli strain was carried over from the culture bottle of the index patient, through the contaminated gloved hands of a technician to the culture bottles of the other 16 cases. Although the pseudobacteremia occurred over a five day period, they all resulted from cross contamination during blood culture processing within one day. An early outbreak investigation was prompted by the unusual finding of amoxycillin clavulanic acid resistance in the case E. coli isolates in a short period. The relatedness of the E. coli strains from the 17 cases was confirmed by arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction. Clinicians should be alerted to the possibility of a blood E. coli isolate being a contaminant despite its predominant role as a true pathogen.
Escherichia coli has seldom been reported to cause pseudobacteremia. The investigation of an outbreak of amoxycillin clavulanic acid resistant E. coli pseudobacteremia is described. Seventeen cases occurred over a five day period. The source of the E. coli was traced to the blood culture specimen of a patient (index patient) with genuine bacteremia as a result of urinary tract infection. The other 16 case patients had pseudobacteremia which was found to be the result of cross contamination during subculture of blood specimens. The E. coli strain was carried over from the culture bottle of the index patient, through the contaminated gloved hands of a technician to the culture bottles of the other 16 cases. Although the pseudobacteremia occurred over a five day period, they all resulted from cross contamination during blood culture processing within one day. An early outbreak investigation was prompted by the unusual finding of amoxycillin clavulanic acid resistance in the case E. coli isolates in a short period. The relatedness of the E. coli strains from the 17 cases was confirmed by arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction. Clinicians should be alerted to the possibility of a blood E. coli isolate being a contaminant despite its predominant role as a true pathogen.
