Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections due to electronic faucets in a neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

We suggest that electronic faucets may be considered a potential risk for P. aeruginosa in hospitals, especially in high-risk units.

Post-Outbreak Investigation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Faucet Contamination by Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction and Environmental Factors Affecting Positivity

“…29 Previous P. aeruginosa outbreak investigations have also confirmed the waterborne source through the detection of P. aeruginosa in swabs from drains and faucets. 5,6,11,13,14,20 Notably, in this case and despite the established link between aerators and drains swabs and clinical cases, P. aeruginosa was not isolated from water by culture during the outbreak. The high level of aerator positivity (ie, 4 of the 5 positive aerators harbored strains shared with clinical isolates during the outbreak) led to the hypothesis of retrograde contamination from the drain.…”

“…16 Several factors promote water contamination, including the type of faucet, 9,17,18 the presence and type of aerator on the faucet, 19 the volume of mixed hot and cold water, 17 the alignment of the sink drain, 20 construction or renovation settings, and ICU vs non-ICU settings. 3,20 Once contaminated, eradication of P. aeruginosa in the water system is challenging and often results in replacing related devices 5,[7][8][9][10][11][12]14 or installing point-of-use 0.2-μm filters. 4,13,14 Although cultivation is the reference method, it may not reveal background contamination that may flare up when the environment becomes favorable for growth and culturability.…”

“…Epidemiol. 2015;36 (11): [1337][1338][1339][1340][1341][1342][1343] Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a source of infection outbreaks, especially in intensive care units (ICUs). 1 Several of these outbreaks have been directly or indirectly linked to water distribution systems.…”

“…1 Several of these outbreaks have been directly or indirectly linked to water distribution systems. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In ICUs, 30%-50% of P. aeruginosa infections have been associated with water. 15 A multicentric prospective study recently established tap contamination in patient rooms as an important environmental risk factor for P. aeruginosa acquisition.…”

Pathogen-Specific Clustering of Nosocomial Blood Stream Infections in Very Preterm Infants

“…Numerous reports have identified soaps and shampoos as reservoirs for S marcescens [30][31][32][33] and P aeruginosa. 34,35 Water systems can act as a source of S marcescens 36 and P aeruginosa. 19,35,37,38 Although we found P aeruginosa and Serratia spp to have the highest rate of BSI in exposed infants of all pathogens analyzed, they were also those with the lowest incidence density.…”