Outbreak of bacteremia caused by Ralstonia insidiosa isolated from contaminated blood gas syringe

Authors

ELİF AYÇA ŞAHİNFollow
Özge ÖZGEN TOP
Pınar AYSERT YILDIZ
ELİF SEREN TANRIVERDİFollow
HASAN SELÇUK ÖZGERFollow
BARIŞ OTLUFollow
Özlem GÜZEL TUNÇCAN
MURAT DİZBAYFollow
AYŞE KALKANCIFollow
KAYHAN ÇAĞLARFollow

Abstract

Background/aim: Ralstonia species are opportunistic, waterborne microorganisms known for their ability to survive and proliferate in a wide range of water-based environments. They can contaminate solutions used for patient care and cause hospital outbreaks due to contaminated solutions. The aim of this study was to investigate the source and clonal relationship of Ralstonia insidiosa bacteremia detected in 28 patients between August and December 2021, as part of an unusual outbreak.Materials and methods: Active prospective surveillance studies were conducted, and environmental samples, including saline, antiseptic, and antibiotic solutions, injectors, arterial blood gas syringes, tap water, and hand soap, were collected from wards to determine the source of the outbreak. An arbitrary-primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) genotyping method was used to determine the clonal relationship between the isolates.Results: All the samples were cultured, and R. insidiosa was isolated from arterial blood gas syringes with the same location and time-based identifier (LOT number). All the arterial blood gas syringes were recalled from the hospital departments and sent back to the manufacturer. The outbreak was reported to the national health authorities. Clonal analysis between isolates from the patients and the blood gas syringes was performed using AP-PCR. It was observed that the R. insidiosa isolates were monoclonal and identical.Conclusion: It was concluded that these contaminated arterial blood gas syringes caused the R. insidiosa bacteremia, especially in immunocompromised patients.

Author ORCID Identifier

ELİF ŞAHİN: 0000-0002-2215-2756

ÖZGE ÖZGEN TOP: 0000-0003-1468-4960

PINAR AYSERT YILDIZ: 0000-0001-8737-9110

ELİF TANRIVERDİ: 0000-0002-0449-0356

HASAN ÖZGER: 0000-0003-3894-0092

BARIŞ OTLU: 0000-0002-6220-0521

ÖZLEM GÜZEL TUNÇCAN: 0000-0003-1611-0725

MURAT DİZBAY: 0000-0003-4120-0781

AYŞE KALKANCI: 0000-0003-0961-7325

KAYHAN ÇAĞLAR: 0000-0001-7257-6453

DOI

10.55730/1300-0144.5967

Keywords

AR-PCR, bacteremia, blood culture, contamination, Ralstonia sp.

First Page

265

Last Page

270

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

ŞAHİN, ELİF AYÇA; ÖZGEN TOP, Özge; YILDIZ, Pınar AYSERT; TANRIVERDİ, ELİF SEREN; ÖZGER, HASAN SELÇUK; OTLU, BARIŞ; TUNÇCAN, Özlem GÜZEL; DİZBAY, MURAT; KALKANCI, AYŞE; and ÇAĞLAR, KAYHAN (2025) "Outbreak of bacteremia caused by Ralstonia insidiosa isolated from contaminated blood gas syringe," Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences: Vol. 55: No. 1, Article 31. https://doi.org/10.55730/1300-0144.5967
Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/medical/vol55/iss1/31