In a series of reports on the outbreak of life-threatening non-Tuberculosis Mycobacterium (NTM) infections, the patients who had cardiothoracic surgery were found to be infected, and contaminated heater-cooler devices were linked as the source. A hospital incidence Reportedly, in July 2013, opening of a new wing at a hospital in US was shortly followed by a two-phased outbreak of nosocomial NTM infections. All 95 affected patients tested positive for Mycobacterium abscessus , a fast-growing NTM found in the local municipal water supply and concentrated in the high-efficiency water distribution system of the new wing.
13 (54%) of 24 affected patients from the second phase were patients who had had cardiac surgery. The mortality reached 41% for infected cardiothoracic patients from both phases combined (nine of 22 patients). The outbreak of NTM infections among patients who had undergone…
