Community-acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia and sepsis in previously healthy infants.

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia, or sepsis, often occurs in hospitals, affecting mainly children with underlying problems. However, it can also appear in communities, and affects infants and children without underlying diseases. We report eight cases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia, or sepsis, in previously healthy infants over a three-year period. All patients were less than twelve months old and the majority presented with sepsis, diarrhea, ecthyma gangrenosum, and neutropenia. The infection route may have been the gastrointestinal tract. Concomitant gastrointestinal infections may have played a role in pathogenesis.