Hospital bronchoscopy-related pseudo-outbreak caused by a circulating Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. massiliense

This study aimed to analyse the clonality of isolates. Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. massiliense isolated from 28 patients, water from one bronchoscope and water from four automated endoscope reprocessing machines presented high similarity by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. This strain was not found in the water supply, and it was hypothesized that an infected patient contaminated the bronchoscope, with further false-positive cultures from subsequent patients.
Source: Journal of Hospital Infection - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research