Virulent infections due to alpha-haemolytic streptococci in cancer patients and their management
Details
Serval ID
serval:BIB_DCD4FE2D04AB
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Review (review): journal as complete as possible of one specific subject, written based on exhaustive analyses from published work.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Virulent infections due to alpha-haemolytic streptococci in cancer patients and their management
Journal
Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases
ISSN
0951-7375
Publication state
Published
Issued date
1997
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
10
Number
6
Pages
422-430
Language
english
Abstract
Streptococci of the viridans group have long been considered to be minor pathogens, except in bacterial endocarditis. For some years, however, these microorganisms have been the cause of serious bacteraemia in neutropenic patients receiving intensive chemotherapy. These infections can lead to severe complications such as endocarditis, respiratory distress syndromes or shock, and are associated with a mortality rate ranging from 6-30%. The principal risk factors for these infections are profound neutropenia, antibiotic prophylaxis with quinolones or cotrimoxazole, large doses of cytosine arabinoside, a recent history of chemotherapy, oropharyngeal mucositis and viridans streptococcal colonization. Protective factors are the early administration of parenteral antibiotics during periods of neutropenia, or the prophylactic administration of penicillin. Although the introduction of penicillin to prophylactic antibiotic regimens has led to a decrease in the incidence of these infections, the emergence of strains resistant to beta-lactams is a worrying problem which could compromise this type of treatment.
Web of science
Create date
20/02/2009 13:33
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:01