Abstract
Burkholderia gladioli was described as a plant pathogen, and it is a rare cause of infection in humans that is primarily associated with human pulmonary infections, such as chronic granulomatous disease and cystic fibrosis. The neonatal respiratory system is not fully developed and cannot expel bacterial aerosol properly. A total of 2,676 newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit were retrospectively analysed in Putian City, Fujian Province, China, from 2011 to 2014. All of the blood samples were tested for C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and white blood cell (WBC). B. gladioli infections were determined and analysed using a blood culture system. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the K-B method. Of the 2,676 participants, 87 (3.25 %) had a positive B. gladioli blood culture that occurred >72 h after birth, including a premature group (54.0 %, asphyxia [vs. 9.20 %], fever [vs. 13.80 %], pneumonia [vs. 6.90 %] and hyperbilirubinaemia [vs. 8.05 %]) and newborns with necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) (vs. 5.75 %). The mean ± standard deviation (SD) of the CRP level was 12.31 ± 0.26 mg/L and that of the PCT level was 1.53 ± 0.21 ng/ml in the 87 B. gladioli-infected newborns. Most of the B. gladioli isolates were sensitive to many antimicrobial agents and did not lead to serious consequences. All of the B. gladioli-infected newborns were unhealthy, especially the premature infants. B. gladioli might be a causative bacteraemia agent in neonates, it appears to have pathogenic potential in newborns and its sensitivity to antibiotics may be a beneficial factor.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Liao Guoyang from the No. 5 Department of Biology at the Institute of Medical Biology, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College for the Instructor.
Funding
This study was supported by grants from the Putian Science and Technology Conference (201303036).
Ethical approval
The Fujian Medical University Teaching Hospital, First Hospital of Putian ethics committee approved the study, and we obeyed the Declaration of Helsinki informed consent procedures, which were carried out individually. Additionally, written consent was obtained from all of the parents before any procedures were performed
Conflict of interest
The authors’ declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: Zhang Jihua, Zhou Fangye. Performed the experiments: Zhou Fangye, Ning Hongwei, Chen Fenghong, Wu Weiping. Analysed the data: Zhou Fangye, Chen Aimin. Wrote the paper: Zhou Fangye, Zhang Jihua, Ning Hongwei.
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Zhou, F., Ning, H., Chen, F. et al. Burkholderia gladioli infection isolated from the blood cultures of newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 34, 1533–1537 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-015-2382-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-015-2382-1