Outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia bacteremia consequent to contaminated ultrasound gel-a report from a tertiary care centre in South Tamilnadu, India

We report an outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia bacteremia in a cardiothoracic surgery intensive care unit. Four cases of bloodstream infections were reported between August 16, 2024 and August 31, 2024. Microbiological surveillance of clean and sterile material from the unit revealed growth of B. cepacia from opened and sealed ultrasound gel bottles. Further cultures acquired from ultrasound gel containers from other units also grew B. cepacia and hence displaced by single use sterile gel. The outbreak was regarded terminated by the first week of September 2024 as no additional cases were described.