A surgical heater-cooler unit has been implicated as the source for Mycobacterium chimaera infections among cardiac surgery patients in several countries. We isolated M. chimaera from heater-cooler units and patient infections in the United States. Whole-genome sequencing corroborated a risk for these units acting as a reservoir for this pathogen.
Keywords: Mycobacterium chimaera; United States; bacteria; cardiac surgery; genomics; heater–cooler unit; nontuberculous mycobacteria; nosocomial infection; outbreak; tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.