An outbreak of Ralstonia pickettii bloodstream infection among pediatric leukemia patients

Background: Ralstonia pickettii is an opportunistic waterborne microbe which can survive in many kinds of solutions. Contamination of these solutions may result as outbreaks, which can be mortal for immuncompromised patients. Herein we report an outbreak of R. pickettii related to contaminated saline infusion in our center. Methods: This study was conducted in Ankara Pediatric City Hospital. An outbreak occured in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Unit between August 28, 2019 and September 13, 2019. When the outbreak occured, infection control team began an investigation. Environmental samples were collected in order to find the source of the outbreak. Results: A total of 11 patients with catheter related blood stream infection caused by R. pickettii who were diagnosed with leukemia were affected. None of the patients infected with R. pickettii died during the outbreak. A total of seventy environmental samples were cultured with the purpose of finding the source of outbreak. R. pickettii grew in normal saline solution culture and all isolates had the same clone of R. pickettii. The outbreak lasted two weeks and was controlled by stopping the usage and sending back the saline solutions belonging to the same manufacturing batch. Conclusions: We reported an outbreak of R. pickettii BSIs in highly immunocompromised patients due to contaminated intravascular solution, which was rapidly controlled by infection control measures. Vigilant surveillance by hospital infection control teams and prompt inves-tigation to identify the source of nosocomial infections are crucial to stop an outbreak. Copyright (c) 2021, Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study reports an outbreak of Ralstonia pickettii in a pediatric hematology and oncology unit, which was controlled by infection control measures. The contaminated saline solution was identified as the source of the outbreak. This study highlights the importance of vigilant surveillance and prompt investigation by hospital infection control teams in stopping outbreaks of nosocomial infections.