In 2021, a Stenotrophomonas maltophilia outbreak was identified in an Istanbul tertiary referral center that resulted in 121 cases. Upon investigation, Menekşe et al. (2022) report the source of the outbreak to have occurred from the use of a commercial needleless blood gas injector. It was also found that ECMO water heater devices had secondary contamination by S. maltophilia, via bidirectional transmission between patient’s blood and the ECMO water heater device. This illustrates the importance of surveillance culture for ECMO water heater devices, which the investigators of the study stress should be incorporated in routine clinical practice.
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EST can help you with this or other waterborne pathogens that may be present in your facility.