Bacteraemia in acute leukemic patients

ABSTRACT

Bacteremic complications in patients with acute leukemia are the main concern in this work. Fourteen leukemic patients were studied. Eight bacteremic episodes caused by three different microorganisms, nine febrile episodes, seven overt foci of infection, eight granulocytopenic states and four deaths were recorded during this work. There was a higher tendency for bacteremia to occur during the early phases of the disease, in the febrile episodes, during the granulocytopenia states, especially of the severe degrees and when an overt focus of infection was present. The organisms recovered from the patients were Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Escherichia coli. The antibiotics to which these organisms proved to be sensitive were ampiclox, tobramycin, garamycin and carbenicillin