Abstract
Bronchiectasis is an acquired irreversible bronchopulmonary disease where
bronchial walls in the lungs are permanently inflamed and dilated. This leads to a
‘vicious cycle’ between chronic bacterial infection and immune dysregulation. One of
the bacterial infections patients with bronchiectasis experience is S. maltophilia, a
Gram-negative gamma proteobacteria with intrinsic multidrug resistance and widely
found in the environment. S. maltophilia is also a common infection in CF patients
but has poorly been characterised in bronchiectasis. This study looks at its
significance in bronchiectasis and tries to establish a comparison between
environmental and clinical strains as well as to elucidate the question of its
pathogenicity which is still controversial.
