Moisturizer led to infection in hospital patients

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Moisturizer led to infection in hospital patients

2008-02-21

Reuters Health

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An outbreak of severe infections in ICU

patients was caused by moisturizing body lotion that had been

contaminated during the manufacturing process.

 

The culprit was found to be a bug called Burkholderia cepacia. This

microbe is widespread in soil and water and is usually harmless to

healthy people. However, it can be a danger to people with cystic

fibrosis or whose immune systems are suppressed.

 

The five patients affected by the outbreak were admitted to the

intensive care unit in July and August of 2006, explain Dr. Francisco

Alvarez-Lerma and associates at Hospital Universitari del Mar in

Barcelona, Spain.

 

Testing of urine and blood samples showed that the patients were

infected with Burkholderia cepacia, which caused serious bloodstream

infection in three cases, lower respiratory tract infection in one,

and urinary tract infection in one.

 

The bug was then isolated from the moisturizer used for all patients

in the ICU, and not from any other potential sources tested, the

investigators report in the journal Critical Care. Further testing

showed that the samples from the patients and the lotion were

identical.

 

Three of the patients died, although none of the deaths was

attributed to the infection, according to the report.

 

Burkholderia cepacia was also found in previously unopened containers

of the lotion, indicating that contamination had occurred during the

manufacturing process.

 

No new cases of Burkholderia cepacia infection in patients occurred

after all containers of the lotion were thrown away.

 

Based on their experience, the investigators caution that ICU

patients should not be exposed to " cosmetic products for which there

is no guarantee of sterilization during the manufacturing process. "

 

SOURCE: Critical Care, online January 31, 2008.

 

Reuters Limited