Premium
ACUTE BACTERIAL INFECTIONS IN THE ELDERLY MALE: CULTURES AND ANTIBIOTIC SENSITIVITY TESTS
Author(s) -
LANE WILLIAM K.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1968.tb00743.x
Subject(s) - proteus mirabilis , microbiology and biotechnology , staphylococcus aureus , pseudomonas aeruginosa , medicine , antibiotics , ampicillin , antibiotic sensitivity , klebsiella , proteus , escherichia coli , klebsiella pneumonia , enterobacter aerogenes , bacteria , biology , biochemistry , gene , genetics
In a Veterans Administration hospital, repeated cultures were made of body fluids from 92 elderly male patients who had acute illnesses during the observation period of twenty‐eight months. The urinary and respiratory tracts were the most common sites of bacterial infection. The pneumococcus was the most common cause of respiratory‐tract infection, but in a surprisingly large number of cases the offenders were the Klebsiella‐aerobacter group, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis and Escherichia coli. Tracheostomy favored the growth of Pseudomonas. Escherichia coli was the most common cause of urinary‐tract infection. Next in order were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis and the Klebsiella‐Aerobacter group. The presence of an indwelling catheter favored the growth of Pseudomonas, Staph. aureus, Paracolobactrum aerogenes and Proteus species. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common cause of skin infections. Escherichia coli was the organism most frequently found in septicemia. Tables are presented showing the sensitivity of various bacteria to 14 selected antibiotics. The findings indicate that the term “broad spectrum” should be used with great circumspection and possibly be restricted at present to such agents as kanamycin and chloramphenicol.