Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the Home Environment of Newly Infected Cystic Fibrosis Patients

¹ Cystic Fibrosis Centre Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
² Cystic Fibrosis Centre University Hospital KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium
³ Cystic Fibrosis Centre University Hospital UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
⁴ Cystic Fibrosis Centre University Hospital ULG, Liège, Belgium
⁵ Cystic Fibrosis Centre University Hospital UZBrussel, Brussels, Belgium
⁶ Dept of Clinical Chemistry, Bacteriology and Immunology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: petra.schelstraete{at}ugent.be.

	Abstract

The source of acquisition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients remains unknown. Patient-to-patient-transmission has been well documented, but the role of the environment as a source of initial infection is as yet unclear. Here we studied the origin of the first P. aeruginosa isolate in CF patients by comparing the P. aeruginosa genotype(s) from newly infected patients with genotypes of P. aeruginosa isolates from the home environment and from other patients from the same CF centre.

Fifty newly infected patients were studied. P. aeruginosa could be cultured from 5.9% of the environmental samples, corresponding to 18 patients. For 9 of these the genotype of the environmental P. aeruginosa isolate was identical to the patient's isolate. In total, 72% of the environmental P. aeruginosa isolates were encountered in the bathroom. Patient-to-patient transmission within the CF centre could not be ruled out for 3 patients.

In summary, we found a low prevalence of P. aeruginosa in the home environment of the newly infected CF patients. The bathroom should be targeted in any preventive cleaning procedures. An environmental source of the new infection could not be ruled out in 9 patients.

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