Bacterial survey of patients with bacteremia during the ten years (1978-1987) in Nagoya University Hospital

Abstract

We analyzed the changes of frequency of bacterial positive cases on the basis of blood cultures, clinical background and administrated antibiotics for the patients with bacteremia in Nagoya University Hospital from January 1978 to December 1987. During the ten years, the number of samples increased from 330 in 1978 to 1231 in 1987. Moreover, bacterial positive cases increased from 27 (8.2%) in 1978 to 152 (12.3%) in 1987. Organisms isolated consisted of 138 strains of coagulase negative Staphylococci (CNS), 81 Staphylococcus aureus, 60 Candida sp., 58 Escherichia coli, 47 Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and other species. During the period of 1986-1987, of the 92 patients with bacteremia, 85 patients (92.4%) had underlying diseases including leukemia, solid tumor, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus or other diseases. In addition, 67 patients (73.9%) underwent intravascular catheters, urethral catheters, postoperative drainages or other prosthetic insertions. Fourteen patients died of septicemia within a week after recovery of the organism in the blood culture. The recovery rate for gram positive cocci in blood culture increased in the 1980's. It may partly be due to the prevalent use of these prosthetic insertions, and the preferable use of second and third generation cephalosporin antibiotics.