Burkholderia cepacia: An Outbreak in the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit.

Burkholderia cepacia: An Outbreak in the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit. Perit Dial Int. 2019 Jan-Feb;39(1):92-95 Authors: Gleeson S, Mulroy E, Bryce E, Fox S, Taylor SL, Talreja H Abstract Burkholderia cepacia is a ubiquitous, opportunistic, environmental gram-negative bacillus which most commonly affects cystic fibrosis and immunocompromised patients. Rarely, it can cause peritoneal dialysis (PD) exit-site infection (ESI). Information relating to predisposing factors, clinical course, and treatment options for B. cepacia ESIs is limited. Although reports of B. cepacia healthcare-associated infections exist, outbreaks in PD units have not previously been reported. A recent outbreak of B. cepacia ESI in our PD unit provided a unique opportunity to study B. cepacia ESIs and to outline an approach to investigating such an outbreak.After unexpectedly identifying B. cepacia as the cause of PD catheter ESIs in 3 patients over an 11-week period, we began systematically screening our PD population for B. cepacia exit-site colonization. A further 6 patients were found to be affected, 3 with asymptomatic colonization and 3 with symptomatic B. cepacia ESI. Four of the 6 developed tunnel infections requiring multiple courses of antibiotic treatment, and 3 patients required catheter removal; 2 patients with symptomatic ESIs without tunnel involvement responded to oral and topical antibiotics. Further investigation implicated 4% chlorhexidine aqueous b...
Source: Peritoneal Dialysis International - Category: Urology & Nephrology Tags: Perit Dial Int Source Type: research