Copyright
©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Mar 26, 2016; 6(1): 126-132
Published online Mar 26, 2016. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v6.i1.126
Published online Mar 26, 2016. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v6.i1.126
Efficient management and maintenance of ultrasonic nebulizers to prevent microbial contamination
Yoko Ida, Hiroaki Ohnishi, Kouji Araki, Takashi Watanabe, Clinical Laboratory, Kyorin University Hospital, Tokyo 181-8611, Japan
Yoko Ida, Ryoichi Saito, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan
Hiroaki Ohnishi, Takashi Watanabe, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Tokyo 181-8611, Japan
Shin Kawai, Department of General Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Tokyo 181-8611, Japan
Author contributions: Saito R and Watanabe T designed the research; Ida Y, Aaraki K and Kawai S performed the research (patients’ data collection, bacterial culture and genetic analysis); Ida Y and Ohnishi H wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: As this study only handles data regarding bacteria that are non-human subjects, ethical issues do not arise from this manuscript. Therefore, this study does not require the approvement by the review board.
Informed consent statement: As this study only handles data regarding bacteria, no informed consent is necessary for this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that there are no potential conflicts of interest relating to this manuscript.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hiroaki Ohnishi, MD, PhD, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine, 6-20-2 Shinkawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8611, Japan. onishi@ks.kyorin-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-422-475511 Fax: +81-422-793471
Received: July 28, 2015
Peer-review started: August 6, 2015
First decision: September 28, 2015
Revised: December 12, 2015
Accepted: January 5, 2016
Article in press: January 7, 2016
Published online: March 26, 2016
Peer-review started: August 6, 2015
First decision: September 28, 2015
Revised: December 12, 2015
Accepted: January 5, 2016
Article in press: January 7, 2016
Published online: March 26, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: In this study, we sought the cause of an outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) infection among inpatients using ultrasonic nebulizers and evaluated the efficacy of new methods for nebulizer maintenance introduced following the outbreak. Precise investigation revealed damaged diaphragms in many nebulizers, which we speculated would be the major cause of Bcc contamination of nebulizers and subsequent Bcc infection. The new maintenance methods for nebulizers, including restriction of the usage period, thorough disinfection, and routine check for diaphragm breakage, remarkably reduced Bcc isolation from nebulizers and patients’ samples.