Serratia marcescens in a newborn unit--microbiological features.

During a 12 mth period in a newborn unit (NBU), Serratia marcescens was isolated from 3 fatal cases of meningitis, 5 cases of septicemia, 5 of pneumonia, 4 or urinary tract infection and 15 of conjunctivitis. At the peak of the outbreak a 95% incidence of rectal colonization with S. marcescens was observed in the NBU. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of sodium dodecylsulphate disrupted Serratia (SDS-PAGE) established that all isolates were identical.