Study of opportunistic bacterial species associated with immunocompromised patients suffering from various malignancies

ABSTRACT

To study the bacterial species associated with infections in immunocompromised patients, samples of sputum, urine and blood from 125 cancer patients at various stages of radiotherapy were studied. Simultaneously similar specimens from 25 healthy individuals were collected to act as controls. Out of 125 patients, gram negative bacterial species were isolated and identified from 58.4% individuals, whereas gram negative bacterial species were isolated from 22.0% healthy individuals only. Eleven species of gram negative organisms were isolated from specimens of sputum, urine and blood of these patients. In contrast, only four different gram negative bacterial species were isolated from the group of healthy individuals. Escherichia coli was the organism most frequently isolated from both sets of individuals. The data obtained were also analysed to reveal the frequency of opportunistic gram negative bacterial species at various stages of therapy, as well as their correlation with the clinical samples. It was seen that gram negative opportunistic bacteria were mostly isolated during post-treatment stage of therapy. The highest number of patients yielded gram negative opportunistic bacteria from their sputum samples