Infections and pseudoinfections due to povidone-iodine solution contaminated with Pseudomonas cepacia

Adelisa L. Panlilio, Consuelo M. Beck-Sague, Jane D. Siegel, Roger L. Anderson, Sylvia Y. Yetts, Nancye C. Clark, Patricia N. Duer, Kathryn A. Thomassen, Robert W. Vess, Bertha C. Hill, Ofelia C. Tablan, William R. Jarvis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

93 Scopus citations

Abstract

In 1989 we investigated the first instance of Pseudomonas cepacia infections due to intrinsic contamination of a povidone-iodine product. Six patients in a Texas pediatric facility had P. cepacia infection or pseudoinfection (three, peritonitis; one, pseudoperitonitis; and two, pseudobacteremia). Epidemiological studies showed one risk factor for infection of peritoneal fluid with P. cepacia: performance of peritoneal dialysis in the dialysis unit with use of one lot of povidone-iodine later found to be intrinsically contaminated (4/5 vs. 0/16, P = .001). Blood cultures yielded P. cepacia after nurses wiped the tops of blood culture bottles with the povidone-iodine solution before inoculation. P. cepacia was cultured from three povidone-iodine containers used at the hospital and from four containers of the same lot obtained from other health-care facilities in Texas and California. Isolates from patients and the povidone-iodine had similar antibiograms, identical plasmid profiles, and identical DNA banding patterns on the basis of results of ribonucleotide typing. This investigation demonstrates that intrinsic contamination of povidone-iodine solution with P. cepacia can result in infections in addition to colonization and/or pseudoinfection.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1078-1083
Number of pages6
JournalClinical Infectious Diseases
Volume14
Issue number5
StatePublished - May 1992

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology

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