Perfusionist-transmitted bacterial mediastinitis - in a heart transplant recipient

We report the case of a 56-year-old man who developed bacterial mediastinit is with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus after undergoing heart transplantation. He had a history of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus an d prior cardiac surgery. To find the source of nosocomial infection, we cul tured nasal swab specimens from all hospital personnel involved in this ope ration. We used antibiotic sensitivity profiling and pulsed-field gel elect rophoresis to subtype the involved microorganism. The S. aureus isolates fr om the patient and the perfusionist were identical to each other and were d ifferent from the strains previously found in our hospital. It is almost ce rtain that the S. aureus mediastinitis in this patient was transmitted from the perfusionist. We recommend obtaining cultures from hospital staff memb ers when there is an outbreak of staphylococcal infection.