Survival of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the hospital environment.

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is now a common cause of hospital-acquired infection. It produces small epidemics of urinary tract infection or sporadic cases of wound sepsis,' multiple cutaneous abscesses, pneumonia, and septicemia. It is a particular threat to severely burned patients, many of whom die with pseudomonas septicemia. While urinary infections with P. aeruginosa have been shown to be transmitted by inadequately sterilized urological instruments, drainage apparatus, and urinals (Williams et al, 1960), the mode by which nonurological patients become infected is obscure. Generally, the organism is thought not to survive long in the dried state and has been isolated