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Survival of infectious Pseudomonas aeruginosa genotypes in occupational saturation diving environment and the significance of these genotypes for recurrent skin infections
Author(s) -
Ahlén Catrine,
Mandal Lise Helen,
Johannessen Lene N.,
Iversen Ole Jan
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(200005)37:5<493::aid-ajim5>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - pseudomonas aeruginosa , genotype , saturation (graph theory) , genotyping , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , occupational exposure , veterinary medicine , biology , bacteria , environmental health , genetics , gene , mathematics , combinatorics
Background Occupational saturation divers suffer from various skin disorders, of which skin infections are the most serious and frequent. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the microbe most often isolated. Methods P. aeruginosa isolates from 292 skin infections in operational saturation divers and about 800 isolates from occupational saturation diving systems have been collected during the period 1986 to 1998. Genotyping of the isolates has been performed by using restriction enzyme fragmentation and pulsed field gel electrophoresis. Results Four hundred and seventy‐two P. aeruginosa isolates have been analyzed, of which 181 originate from skin infections in divers. Ninety‐seven significantly different P. aeruginosa genotypes have been defined. Some of these genotypes are solely found from skin infections, some solely from the saturation environment and about 25% were found both from infections and from the saturation environment. Eight frequent infectious genotypes have been identified, and these are shown to be present over several years, both in infections and in the saturation environment. Conclusions The study suggests that skin infections in occupational saturation divers are commonly caused by environmental strains. Am. J. Ind. Med. 37:493–500, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.