Pseudobacteremia attributed to contamination of povidone-iodine with Pseudomonas cepacia

Abstract

Pseudomonas cepacia was recovered from the blood cultures of 52 patients in four hospitals in New York over 7 months from April to October 1980. Epidemiologic investigation in one hospital indicated that the positive results of blood culture represented pseudobacteremias and implicated a 10% povidone-iodine solution used as an antiseptic and disinfectant (Pharmadine; Sherwood Pharmaceutical Company, Mahwah, New Jersey) as the source of contamination. Physicians who drew blood cultures positive for P. cepacia were more likely to have left povidone-iodine on the skin before venipuncture (p = 0.026) and were more likely to have applied povidone-iodine to the blood culture bottle tops and to hav..