Serratia marcescens bacteremia because of contaminated prefilled heparin and saline syringes: a multi-state report.

A national outbreak of Serratia marcescens bacteremia because of contaminated prefilled heparin and saline syringes led to their recall. We evaluated the clinical impact of this outbreak in 57 patients at 3 centers. All patients were symptomatic and were treated with intravenous antibiotics with a fatal outcome in 1 patient.