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Anaerobic Bacteremia in Patients with Acute Leukemia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Elizabeth A. Brown ,
George H. Talbot ,
Mary Provencher  and
Peter Cassileth
Elizabeth A. Brown
Affiliation:
Infectious Diseases and Hematology-Oucology Sections, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and the Infection Control Section, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
George H. Talbot*
Affiliation:
Infectious Diseases and Hematology-Oucology Sections, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and the Infection Control Section, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mary Provencher
Affiliation:
Infectious Diseases and Hematology-Oucology Sections, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and the Infection Control Section, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Peter Cassileth
Affiliation:
Infectious Diseases and Hematology-Oucology Sections, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and the Infection Control Section, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
*
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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Abstract

We reviewed 402 hospital admissions of patients with acute leukemia to define the frequency and characteristics of anaerobic bacteremia in this patient population. Six (5.2%) of the 116 septicemia episodes documented in these patients were caused by anaerobes (Bacteroides species, 3; Fusobacterium species, 2; and Clostridium tertium, 1); two of these episodes were polymicrobial. Five patients had had prior bacteremia. All six patients were receiving broad-spectrum antibiotics, including an anti-pseu-domonal penicillin, at the time of the episode. In each instance, the absolute granulocyte count was 0/mm3. Five patients had clinically apparent sources of infection, including perirectal abscess, gastrointestinal bleeding, or Clostridium difficile- associated diarrhea. Anaerobic bacteremia is an infrequent occurrence in granulocytopenic patients with acute leukemia, but may occur when there is obvious disruption of normal gastrointestinal anatomic barriers.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , February 1989 , pp. 65 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1989

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