Volume 11, Number 7, July 2005

Nosocomial Malaria and Saline Flush

Sanjay K. Jain,* Deborah Persaud,* Trish M. Perl,* Margaret A. Pass,* Kathleen M. Murphy,* John M. Pisciotta,* Peter F. Scholl,* James F. Casella,* and David J. Sullivan*
*Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Figure 1. Mass spectroscopic analysis of sterile saline flush syringes after routine use. The contents of the used syringes were concentrated by centrifugation. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization detected the α and β chains of hemoglobin as the ions at mass/charge (m/z) 15,126 and 15,867, respectively, in samples A (red), B (green), C (blue), and J (aqua) that were absent in the matrix alone (black). The lower limit of sensitivity with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization is ≈0.5 erythrocytes per mL.

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This page last reviewed June 14, 2005

Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal
National Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention