Aetiological agents of bacteraemia and fungaemia in patients with neoplastic disease at Cancer Institute Maharagama

Abstract

Majority of the patients in the study group comprised of adults (61.5 percent Leukemia was the most common malignancy (§0.8 percent ) in the study population, followed by solid tumours (16.8 percent ) and lymphoma (11.9 percent ). Sixty six (46.2 percent ) were neutropenic. There were 43 blood culture isolates from 41 (29 percent ) patients. Methicillin resistant stapih iococcus aureus (20 percent ) was the most frequently isolated organism, followed by Coagulase negative staphylococcus (16.3 percent ), Pseudomonas (11.6 percent ) and Coliforms (6.9 percent ).There was only one fnngal isolate. (2 percent ). All Gram positive organisms were susceptible to vancomycin .. Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter spp. had high susceptibility rates to a variety of antibiotics. There were no extended spectrum beta lactamase producing organisms. There were 29 patients with positive blood culture. Of these 72 percent were gram positive bacteria , 26 percent were gram negative bacteria and 2 percent were fungi. Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA) was the most common among the germ positive organisms. Pseudomonas spp was the commonest isolate among gram negative organisms. This study revels that leukemia is more frequently observed in the paediatric age group ( p-0.014) and bacteraemic episodes are more frequently with leukemia . ( P-0.034).