NEONATAL INFECTIONS WITH PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA ASSOCIATED WITH A WATER-BATH USED TO THAW FRESH-FROZEN PLASMA

In our 15-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), four new-borns were found to be colonized or infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa within a period of one week. To identify the outbreak source, three independe nt studies were performed: epidemiological investigation, environmenta l surveillance and genotypic typing of isolates. Although epidemiologi cal investigation by a case-control study revealed no conclusive resul ts, the transfusion of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and human albumin (HA ) appeared to be the factor with highest risk. Environmental surveilla nce and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) of isolates ide ntified a water-bath used to warm FFP and HA as the likely reservoir f or the outbreak. Further spread of the organism did not occur after el imination of this water-bath from the NICU. RAPD identified in additio n an isolate from an infant hospitalized in the NICU five months befor e the outbreak with a pattern matching the one of the outbreak cluster .