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ABSTRACTFour patients in an oncology ward developed Bacteroides fragilisbacteremia over a 12-day period. Cross-infection between two of them, due to an imipenem-resistant strain, was demonstrated by epidemiological investigation and genotypic typing methods (arbitrarily primed PCR fingerprinting and nucleotide sequencing of the cfiAgenes and upstream IS1186/IS1168elements).

AbstractAgrobacterium radiobacterwas isolated from 15 blood cultures collected from 15 newborns. Contamination of blood cultures was suspected because, in most cases, the babies' illnesses seemed incompatible with infection. A radiobacterwas isolated from citrated tubes used for clotting-factor studies. Review of venipuncture technique revealed that occasionally the coagulation study tubes were being inoculated before the blood-culture bottles. This investigation demonstrated how an environmental source coupled with faulty technique caused a cluster of false-positive blood cultures.