OUTBREAK OF AEROBACTER INFECTIONS ON INFANTS' WARDS

[摘要] In the course of a study on the control of airborne infection by means of triethylene glycol vapor, there occurred an outbreak of infection due to a previously undescribed encapsulated gram-negative rod.The morphologic and cultural characteristics of this organism place it in the Aerobacter-Klebsiella group. It was readily identified by its ability to show capsular swelling in the presence of sera against types 23 and 32 pneumococcus. Serologic studies showed it to be antigenically related to certain other strains of encapsulated, gram-negative rods, but not to Friedländer's bacillus, H. influenzae, meningococcus or pneumococcus other than the types mentioned above.Some of the patients who acquired the organism developed mild respiratory infections or diarrhea, accompanied by fever, but most remained asymptomatic.The organism spread in epidemic fashion on both glycolized and control wards and was recovered from the nasopharynx of 50 patients out of a total of 361 included in the study, also from numerous nurses, attendants and visitors. In the course of the epidemic the ward environment (air, dust, furniture, bedclothes, etc.) became heavily contaminated. It is postulated that patients with profuse nasal discharge and diarrhea may have served to infect the ward environment, which in turn served as the source of infection to other patients.

[学科分类] 儿科学