Pseudomonas

Question

I have pseudomonas and I would like to know if I can pass it on a person who doesn´t suffer from CF but has prolonged low immunity because of flu. I would also like to know if there is any risk that I might endanger the health of a newborn child who is otherwise healthy.

Answer

Hello,

The risk of pseudomonas infection in healthy individuals (including infants) is very low. If such an individual gets infected with pseudomonas, they usually develop skin, ear or eye inflammation. The bacteria usually gets into these organs with water when the individual is bathing, or in the case of the eyes, through contact lense use. A CF patient isn´t the source of infection and poses practically no danger to a healthy individual. Lung infection has been described in literature only once, when the parents of a CF patient with an infection caused by a contagious, so-called Liverpool type (which doesn´t occur in the Czech Republic), fell ill. People with immune defect may be prone to pseudomonas infection, however, they are typically threatened by it in hospital intensive care units, where post-surgery patients or ventilated patients are hospitalised. In these cases, the patient´s immune system is seriously weakened and pseudomonas presents a serious danger. However, it is highly improbable that a person outside of a hospital, whose immunity has been temporarily lowered by something like the flu, might get infected with pseudomonas.

Individuals who don´t suffer from CF practically cannot be infected by a CF patient and therefore no special measures need to be taken.

The only precaution that can be taken in both cases is proper washing and/or disinfection of hands.
Dr. J. Brázová

16.11.2011