Investigation of an outbreak caused by Cronobacter malonaticus in a Maternity Hospital in Teresina, Piauí: Characterization and typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

• Autor(a) principal: Brandão, Marcelo Luiz Lima
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Umeda, Natália Scudeller, Carvalho, Karyne Rangel, de Filippis, Ivano
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Vigilância Sanitária em Debate
• Texto Completo: https://visaemdebate.incqs.fiocruz.br/index.php/visaemdebate/article/view/290
• topic: Cronobacter spp.; PFGE; Caracterização Fenotípica; Caracterização Genotípica; Fórmula Infantil; Cronobacter spp.; PFGE; Phenotypic Characterization; Genotypic Characterization; Infant Formulae

Cronobacter spp. are considered opportunistic pathogens that cause severe infections in newborns due to the consumption of powdered infant formulas. In 2013, three cases of infection in neonates caused by the Cronobacter spp. were reported in a Maternity Hospital at Teresina, Piauí. The objective of this study was to investigate the outbreak to elucidate the source of contamination, identify the species involved, and assess the genetic relatedness among the clinical isolates. The samples of powdered infant formulas and pasteurized human milk that were ingested by the neonates were analyzed by different cultivation methods. The clinical strains were phenotypically characterized by the Vitek 2.0 system and conventional biochemical tests. To identify the genus and species, polymerase chain reaction targeting gluA and rpoB, respectively, was performed. The isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis using the restriction enzyme Spel. No food sample showed contamination by Cronobacter spp. Three blood isolates were identified as C. malonaticus, two classified as biogroup 9 and one as biogroup 5, and were grouped in the same genotype. Our results suggest that the same clone was responsible for infection in three patients, but the source of contamination could not be identified.