Burkholderia contaminans Colonization from Contaminated Liquid Docusate (Colace) in a Immunocompetent Adult with Legionnaire’s Disease: Infection Control Implications and the Potential Role of Candida pellucosa

Objective: B. contaminans was cultured from respiratory secretions and liquid docusate (Colace) in a Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (NICU) patient with community-acquired Legionnaire’s disease but not from another bottle given to the patient. Unexpectedly, C. pelliculosa was cultured from two bottles, but not the B. contaminans bottle or respiratory secretions. Methods: B. cepacia, later identified as B. contaminans, was cultured from a bottle of liquid docusate (Colace) dispensed to a non-cystic fibrosis patient. His respiratory secretions were colonized with B. contaminans. Results: Eradication of B. contaminans colonization in the patient’s respiratory secretions was attempted. With levofloxacin, B. contaminans developed multidrug resistance (MDR). Subsequent TMP-SMX therapy did not result in further MDR. Nine other ICU patients were given docusate from the same lot, but there were no other B. contaminans isolates. Conclusion: B. contaminans colonization of respiratory secretion may be difficult to eliminate. The significance of C. pelliculosa cultured from liquid docusate (Colace) remains to be elucidated. In this case, it appeared that B. contaminans may have inhibited the growth of C. pelliculosa in the same bottle. Others should be alerted to the possibility that C. pelliculosa may be present in B. contaminans–contaminated lots of liquid docusate (Colace).