Emerging Infectious Diseases (May 2013)
Contaminated Ventilator Air Flow Sensor Linked to Bacillus cereus Colonization of Newborns
Abstract
We investigated Bacillus cereus–positive tracheal aspirates from infants on ventilators in a neonatal intensive care unit. Multilocus sequence typing determined a genetic match between strains isolated from samples from a case-patient and from the air flow sensor in the ventilator. Changing the sterilization method for sensors to steam autoclaving stopped transmission.
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