Outbreak of Candida bloodstream infections associated with retrograde medication administration in a neonatal intensive care unit R o b e r t J. Sherertz, MD, K a t e S. Gledhill, RN, K e n n e t h D. H a m p t o n , BS, M i c h a e l A. Pfaller, MD,* L a u r e n c e B. G i v n e r , MD, Jon S. A b r a m s o n , MD, a n d R o b e r t G. Dillard, MD From the Department of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, North Carolina Baptist Hospital, the Section on Infectious Diseases, Departments of Medicine, and Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Department of Pathology, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa An o u t b r e a k of c a n d i d e m i a i n v o l v i n g f i v e infants r e c e i v i n g t o t a l p a r e n t e r a l nutrition in the n e o n a t a l intensive c a r e unit was i n v e s t i g a t e d . Cultures of the intrav e n o u s fluids d e m o n s t r a t e d that the r e t r o g r a d e m e d i c a t i o n syringe fluids were s i g n i f i c a n t l y more likely to be c o n t a m i n a t e d with C a n d i d a than were other fluids b e i n g a d m i n i s t e r e d to the infants (p