Experimental kerosene pneumonia: Evaluation of some therapeutic regimens

Abstract

An experimental model of kerosene pneumonia in the guinea pig is described. Pulmonary pathologic changes occurred significantly more often after gavage with kerosene than in animals that did not receive kerosene and that were observed simultaneously. Recovery of bacteria from lung tissue was not significantly different in these two groups. Several groups of animals were treated with procaine penicillin, ampicillin, or cephalothin, respectively, following instillation of kerosene. Rates of recovery of bacteria from lungs among these three treated groups were similar and not significantly different from the recovery rates of animals that were given kerosene but that received no therapy. Antiobiotic therapy profoundly changed the bacterial flora of the upper respiratory tract. Animals gavaged with kerosene and treated with dexamethasone, either alone or with cephalothin, had a significant increase in the percentage of positive lung cultures as compared to kerosene-gavaged control animals. These data suggest that the pathogenesis of the pneumonitis following kerosene ingestion is predominantly nonbacterial, that the use of antimicrobial agents probably is not warranted as initial therapy, and that corticosteroid therapy may be harmful in this condition.