Lack of evidence of increased risk of bacterial transmission during cystic fibrosis educational programmes

Background Educational and rehabilitation programmes increase the quality-of-life of patients with cystic fibrosis, but patients are discouraged to participate because of the risk of cross-infections. Methods Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Haemophilus influenzae cultured one year before to one year after attendance were investigated by pulsed field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing and/or spa-typing. Results We typed 984 bacterial isolates cultured from 46 patients aged 5–18years attending educational programmes at Aarhus University Hospital during 2009–2011. There were no cross-infections with P. aeruginosa. Six cases of S. aureus or H. influenzae strain replacement with a new strain-type shared with a fellow attendee were found. However, the probability of acquiring a shared strain of S. aureus or H. influenzae was not increased for patients attending educational programmes. Conclusions Transmission of P. aeruginosa, S. aureus and H. influenzae related to attendance to the investigated educational programmes could not be documented.