Epidemiological and genomic investigation of a cluster of two Candida pelliculosa infections associated with steroid joint injections at an outpatient facility, Michigan, 2022.
Elizabeth Misas, Dallas Smith, Muhammad Yasir Nawaz et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
Case in brief
In June 2022, investigators identified two patients with Candida pelliculosa osteoarticular infections after they had received joint injections at the same outpatient facility. Whole-genome sequencing of the isolates, considered alongside infection prevention and control observations at the facility, suggested that the infections shared a source. Medication contaminated from an external source was considered a possible explanation; the abstract does not report further clinical details or outcomes.
What made this case unusual
The investigation linked a cluster of osteoarticular infections to joint injections at an outpatient facility, with genomic and facility observations pointing to a possible common source, potentially extrinsically contaminated medication.
Diagnostic / clinical pearl
When osteoarticular infections cluster among patients treated at the same facility, isolate whole-genome sequencing and review of infection prevention and control practices can help assess whether a common source is involved.