Nosocomial infection due to Pseudomonas pseudomallei: two cases and an epidemiologic study.

Pseudomonas pseudomallei was recovered from urine specimens of two patients who acquired the organism after they were admitted to a hospital in a region in which it is endemic. Both patients were diabetic and both had urethral catheters passed while they were hospitalized. samples of soil taken from the hospital grounds yielded an isolate of P. pseudomallei that was identical biochemically and by antibiogram to the two isolates recovered from the urine specimens of the two patients. The two patients stayed in wards located in separate hospital blocks, which were geographically distinct but connected by a walkway. The relevant clinical histories of the two patients and the epidemiologic and microbiologic characteristics of the P. pseudomallei isolates were studied. Sera from both patients showed a significant rise in titers of antibody specific for P. pseudomallei. These two patients are considered to represent the first reported cases of hospital-acquired infection due to P. pseudomallei.