ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with L isteria septicemia for better clinical diagnosis and management of the disease .Methods A retrospective study was carried out in 13 patients with confirmed diagnosis of Listeria septicemia from July 2009 to November 2013 in West China Hospital of Sichuan University .The clinical features ,laboratory tests ,treatments and clinical outcomes were reviewed and analyzed . Results The vast majority of the 13 patients were immunocompromised or with critical organ dysfunction . The in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing indicated that penicillin ,ampicillin and levofloxacin were the most active agents against Listeria ,followed by imipenem ,erythromycin , ciprofloxacin and tetracycline .Only 33 .3% of the 13 Listeria isolates were sensitive to oxacillin .Eight patients were cured ,2 improved ,2 died after therapy .The remaining one patient gave up therapy .Conclusions The incidence of Listeria septicemia was associated with advanced age and presence of underlying diseases .Early etiology diagnosis and appropriate antibacterial therapy can improve the outcome of such patients .Actively treating underlying diseases helps reduce the mortality rate .