Veillonella Misidentified as Francisella tularensis — Idaho, 2016

In October 2016, the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories, Division of Public Health, was notified by hospital A's clinical laboratory (a member of the Idaho Sentinel Laboratory Network) that a bacterial isolate cultured from a hospitalized patient's knee joint fluid aspirate had been identified w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inMMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report Vol. 66; no. 21; pp. 564 - 565
Main Authors Carter, Kris K., Peterson, Erin M., Voermans, Robert L., Anderson, Kenneth S., Cox, Tamara, Kassem, Ahmed M., Ball, Christopher L., Hahn, Christine G.
Format Journal Article Newsletter
LanguageEnglish
Published Atlanta Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 02.06.2017
U.S. Government Printing Office
U.S. Center for Disease Control
Subjects
Antibiotics
Automation
Bacteria
Biomedical laboratories
Exposure
Infections
Infectious diseases
Knee
Laboratories
Medical laboratories
Microorganisms
Notes from the Field
Personnel
Public health
RNA polymerase
Test procedures
Tularemia
Idaho
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In October 2016, the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories, Division of Public Health, was notified by hospital A's clinical laboratory (a member of the Idaho Sentinel Laboratory Network) that a bacterial isolate cultured from a hospitalized patient's knee joint fluid aspirate had been identified with 96% confidence as Francisella tularensis (a Tier 1 select agent) by an in-house automated microbial identification system (AMIS). The isolate was submitted to the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories for confirmatory testing using Laboratory Response Network (LRN) reference methods. Hospital A laboratory personnel reported that the isolate had been manipulated on the open bench and certain laboratory workers had potentially been exposed. The Division of Public Health, hospital A, and Eastern Idaho Public Health initiated an investigation to confirm F. tularensis, assess potential laboratory exposures, and determine the source of infection. The investigation determined that the infectious agent was Veillonella and not F. tularensis.
ISSN:0149-2195
1545-861X
DOI:10.15585/mmwr.mm6621a4