BACTEREMIA DUE TO GRAM-NEGATIVE BACILLI OTHER THAN THE SALMONELLA

Abstract

SEPSIS due to Escherichia coli was the subject of excellent reports by Jacob¹in 1909 and Felty and Keefer²in 1924. However, the fact that strains and species of Gram-negative bacilli differ in their sensitivity to modern antimicrobial agents has made it desirable to study further not only bacteremias due to E. coli but those due to other non-lactose-fermenting Gram-negative rods.³The present study was undertaken to determine whether there was anything characteristic about the clinical pictures caused by different species of Gram-negative bacilli and to work out a therapeutic approach to patients in whom bacteremia due to these organisms was suspected. Presented in this report is a study of 29 cases of bacteremia due to Gram-negative bacilli other than Salmonella. Emphasis has been placed on the incidence of these infections, the clinical and laboratory picture caused by each type of bacilli, the sensitivities of the etiological