Abstract
To evaluate the morbidity and mortality of pneumococcal bacteremia in patients with cancer, we reviewed the 36 case records of patients with one or more blood cultures positive for pneumococci, observed over a 6 -year period at the Institut Jules Bordet. The most frequent underlying neoplasms were lung cancer ( 25 %), chronic lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma ( 25 %). In 80 % of the patients, the respiratory tract was the source of the infection. A bacteriological clue for pneumococcal infection was available in 21 patients at the onset of bacteremia; pneumococci were seen on Gram-stained smears in 52 % and grown in culture in 76 % of all the patients. Most patients ( 33/36 ) received adequate empirical treatment as soon as the infection was clinically suspected. Nevertheless, the overall mortality during the week following the infection was 42 %; 10 of these deaths could be directly attributed to the pneumococcal infection and occurred during the first 3 days after its onset. Among these 10 patients, 8 had been appropriately treated.
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