Biomaterial Database

Outbreak of Candida tropicalis fungemia in a neonatal intensive care unit. 1993

R Finkelstein, and G Reinhertz, and N Hashman, and D Merzbach

Department of Internal Medicine, Rambam Medical Center, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa.

OBJECTIVE To describe an outbreak of Candida tropicalis fungemia in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), to evaluate the risk factors associated with this infection and the possible mode of nosocomial transmission. METHODS Descriptive and case-control study. METHODS Surveillance cultures were taken from hospitalized patients, personnel, and inanimate objects in the NICU. Six patients with C tropicalis fungemia (cases) were compared with C tropicalis culture-negative patients matched for duration of exposure to the NICU (controls). RESULTS During a five-month period, C tropicalis was isolated from 29 blood cultures of six premature infants. The same organism also was isolated from fingernail samples taken from the ward housekeeper, who had a mild onychomycosis, and an asymptomatic nurse. Other potential reservoirs of C tropicalis were not identified among all the other infants or in the hospital environment. The six patients with C tropicalis fungemia were more likely to have received a larger number of antibiotics (4.0 versus 1.8, P < 0.001) and to have been subjected to a longer duration of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) therapy (8.5 versus 2.67 days, P = 0.004) than the controls. CONCLUSIONS The risk of fungemia in this outbreak can be attributed to a larger number of antibiotics and a longer period of TPN administered to the patients. Analysis of events suggests that the outbreak may have been the result of cross-infection between staff and patients.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007363	Intensive Care Units, Neonatal	Hospital units providing continuing surveillance and care to acutely ill newborn infants.	Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,Neonatal Intensive Care Units,Newborn Intensive Care Unit,Newborn Intensive Care Units,ICU, Neonatal,Neonatal ICU,Newborn ICU,Newborn Intensive Care Units (NICU),ICU, Newborn,ICUs, Neonatal,ICUs, Newborn,Neonatal ICUs,Newborn ICUs
D007557	Israel	A country in the Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon. The capital is Jerusalem.
D002177	Candidiasis	Infection with a fungus of the genus CANDIDA. It is usually a superficial infection of the moist areas of the body and is generally caused by CANDIDA ALBICANS. (Dorland, 27th ed)	Candida Infection,Moniliasis,Candida Infections,Candidiases,Infection, Candida,Moniliases
D003428	Cross Infection	Any infection which a patient contracts in a health-care institution.	Hospital Infections,Nosocomial Infections,Health Care Associated Infection,Health Care Associated Infections,Healthcare Associated Infections,Infection, Cross,Infections, Hospital,Infections, Nosocomial,Cross Infections,Healthcare Associated Infection,Hospital Infection,Infection, Healthcare Associated,Infection, Hospital,Infection, Nosocomial,Infections, Cross,Infections, Healthcare Associated,Nosocomial Infection
D004196	Disease Outbreaks	Sudden increase in the incidence of a disease. The concept includes EPIDEMICS and PANDEMICS.	Outbreaks,Infectious Disease Outbreaks,Disease Outbreak,Disease Outbreak, Infectious,Disease Outbreaks, Infectious,Infectious Disease Outbreak,Outbreak, Disease,Outbreak, Infectious Disease,Outbreaks, Disease,Outbreaks, Infectious Disease
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012307	Risk Factors	An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, inborn or inherited characteristic, which, based on epidemiological evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.	Health Correlates,Risk Factor Scores,Risk Scores,Social Risk Factors,Population at Risk,Populations at Risk,Correlates, Health,Factor, Risk,Factor, Social Risk,Factors, Social Risk,Risk Factor,Risk Factor Score,Risk Factor, Social,Risk Factors, Social,Risk Score,Score, Risk,Score, Risk Factor,Social Risk Factor
D016022	Case-Control Studies	Comparisons that start with the identification of persons with the disease or outcome of interest and a control (comparison, referent) group without the disease or outcome of interest. The relationship of an attribute is examined by comparing both groups with regard to the frequency or levels of outcome over time.	Case-Base Studies,Case-Comparison Studies,Case-Referent Studies,Matched Case-Control Studies,Nested Case-Control Studies,Case Control Studies,Case-Compeer Studies,Case-Referrent Studies,Case Base Studies,Case Comparison Studies,Case Control Study,Case Referent Studies,Case Referrent Studies,Case-Comparison Study,Case-Control Studies, Matched,Case-Control Studies, Nested,Case-Control Study,Case-Control Study, Matched,Case-Control Study, Nested,Case-Referent Study,Case-Referrent Study,Matched Case Control Studies,Matched Case-Control Study,Nested Case Control Studies,Nested Case-Control Study,Studies, Case Control,Studies, Case-Base,Studies, Case-Comparison,Studies, Case-Compeer,Studies, Case-Control,Studies, Case-Referent,Studies, Case-Referrent,Studies, Matched Case-Control,Studies, Nested Case-Control,Study, Case Control,Study, Case-Comparison,Study, Case-Control,Study, Case-Referent,Study, Case-Referrent,Study, Matched Case-Control,Study, Nested Case-Control
D016469	Fungemia	The presence of fungi circulating in the blood. Opportunistic fungal sepsis is seen most often in immunosuppressed patients with severe neutropenia or in postoperative patients with intravenous catheters and usually follows prolonged antibiotic therapy.
D017053	Infection Control	Programs of disease surveillance, generally within health care facilities, designed to investigate, prevent, and control the spread of infections and their causative microorganisms.	Control, Infection