Environmental persistence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia multivorans in sea water: preliminary evidence of a viable but non-culturable state

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common inherited fatal disease in persons of a white and European background, and currently affects approximately 30,000 adults and children in the USA.1 The defective gene carrying the mutation responsible is carried by one in every 31 Americans (one in 28 Caucasians), which equates to more than 10 million symptomless carriers of the defective gene.1 It is an autosomal recessive condition whereby two alleles carrying a polymorphism in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene phenotypically manifest the disease state through a variety of multi-organ problems associated with a pharmacological dysfunction to regulate anion (chloride) secretion across cell membranes. The most common complication of CF is the recurrence of chronic chest infection usually caused by bacterial pathogens.2 Cystic fibrosis patients continue to suffer from recurrent and chronic respiratory tract infection and most of their morbidity and mortality is due to such infections throughout their life.3 These infections are usually dominated by Gram-negative organisms, especially pseudomonads such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cepacia and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.