Respiratory colonization with Pseudomonas putrefaciens after near-drowning in salt water.

Pseudomonas putrefaciens, a marine organism infrequently found in human culture material, was repeatedly isolated from the sputum of a patient with pneumonia during a three-week period following a salt-water drowning accident. Similar organisms were found in the water at the site of the accident in Boston, and at ocean bathing beaches on nearby Martha's Vineyard.