Commercial water purification system may have caused pathogen infection in four hospitalized patients

A study of four cardiac surgery patients in one hospital found that they developed Mycobacterium abscessus infections, a multidrug-resistant nontuberculous mycobacteria, potentially due to a commercial water purifier. The water purifier had been installed in the hospital to improve water palatability but was inadvertently removing chlorine from the supply lines feeding ice and water machines in the affected area of the hospital. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.