Burkholderia stabilis outbreak associated with contaminated commercially-available washing gloves, Switzerland, May 2015 to August 2016.

Sommerstein, Rami; Führer, Urs; Lo Priore, Elia Francesco; Casanova, Carlo; Meinel, Dominik M; Seth-Smith, Helena Mb; Kronenberg, Andreas Oskar; Koch, Daniel; Senn, Laurence; Widmer, Andreas F; Egli, Adrian; Marschall, Jonas (2017). Burkholderia stabilis outbreak associated with contaminated commercially-available washing gloves, Switzerland, May 2015 to August 2016. Eurosurveillance, 22(49) European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.49.17-00213

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We describe an outbreak of Burkholderia stabilis associated with contaminated washing gloves, a commercially available Class I medical device. Triggered by an increase in Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) bacteremias and the detection of BCC in unopened packages of washing gloves, an ad hoc national outbreak committee comprising representatives of a public health organisation, a regulatory agency, and an expert association convened and commissioned an outbreak investigation. The investigation included retrospective case finding across Switzerland and whole genome sequencing (WGS) of isolates from cases and gloves. The investigation revealed that BCC were detected in clinical samples of 46 cases aged 17 to 91 years (33% females) from nine institutions between May 2015 and August 2016. Twenty-two isolates from case patients and 16 from washing gloves underwent WGS. All available outbreak isolates clustered within a span of < 19 differing alleles, while 13 unrelated clinical isolates differed by > 1,500 alleles. This BCC outbreak was rapidly identified, communicated, investigated and halted by an ad hoc collaboration of multiple stakeholders. WGS served as useful tool for confirming the source of the outbreak. This outbreak also highlights current regulatory limitations regarding Class I medical devices and the usefulness of a nationally coordinated outbreak response.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Haematology, Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Laboratory Medicine and Hospital Pharmacy (DOLS) > Clinic of Infectiology
04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute for Infectious Diseases
04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute for Infectious Diseases > General Bacteriology

UniBE Contributor:

Sommerstein, Rami, Führer, Urs, Lo Priore, Elia Francesco, Casanova, Carlo, Kronenberg, Andreas Oskar, Marschall, Jonas

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

1560-7917

Publisher:

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

Language:

English

Submitter:

Annelies Luginbühl

Date Deposited:

22 Feb 2018 16:04

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:08

Publisher DOI:

10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.49.17-00213

PubMed ID:

29233255

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Burkholderia cepacia complex Burkholderia stabilis medical device, whole genome sequencing nationwide outbreak

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/108184

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