Acinetobacter junii causes life-threatening sepsis in preterm infants

Acinetobacter junii caused sepsis in six preterm infants in our neonatal un it within 48 h. Each infant with clinical signs of systemic infection and a ctivation of the acute phase response had two positive blood cultures with Acinetobacter. junii. The sudden onset, the short duration of the outbreak and the fact that none of the infants were colonized by A. junii suggested a common source of A. junii administered directly into the blood. The only feature shared by all six affected newborns was an intravenous fat emulsion (Intralipid 10%), which was shown to be an excellent growth medium for A. junii. Sepsis did not occur in four infants with 20% fat emulsion or amino acids only. Vaminolact(R) did not support growth of the outbreak strain. Th e immediate source of the outbreak could not be identified: samples of the actual feeds given were not available for investigation, but A. junii was n ot isolated from parenteral solutions with identical batch numbers used in the septic infants. We conclude that Acinetobacter junii can cause a life-t hreatening infection in preterm neonates. Contaminated intravenous fat emul sion is implicated as a possible source of the infection. As a part of rigi d infection control, intravenous feedings should be prepared under aseptic conditions.