Can transmissible strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa be successfully eradicated?

The isolation of G100 was unlikely to have been due to contamination, based on the following observations. First, the isolation of Ralstonia spp. from clinical samples is extremely rare at our centre and no other cultures in West China Hospital grew Ralstonia spp. in this year. Secondly, no saline solutions or water were used to collect the sputum sample, which was collected prior to noninvasive ventilation. Thirdly, Gram-negative rods were detected in the sputum by microscopy. As G100 was recovered from a sample collected on admission and this patient had no recent history of hospitalisation, this isolate probably had a community origin. After administration of piperacillin/tazobactam, no R. mannitolilytica was isolated from sputum samples collected from this patient afterwards, but the patient’s condition did not improve. This suggests that G100 was probably not the causative agent, or at least, not the sole causative agent of the acute exacerbation of COPD in this patient. It is more likely that R. mannitolilytica had colonised in the respiratory tract in this case.