Regarding the Feb. 10 Kyodo article "Sapporo hospital probed over five infection deaths": Did all of the patients infected with the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium undergo the same medical procedure, such as bronchoscopy?
Many reports in medical literature associate true (and pseudo-) outbreaks of both susceptible and multidrug-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with bronchoscopes that were used on patients while still wet with rinse water after processing (see one of my articles on this topic at: cf,hel www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-99121155.html cf,aur
Alternatively, this bacterium, like Serratia marcescens, if acquired at a hospital or medical facility, could also have been transmitted from one patient to another in close quarters via the unwashed hands of health-care workers. Time will tell.
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