Infection in Thai patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a review of hospitalized patients.

Infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The authors conducted retrospective review of 488 admissions at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital during a 5-year period (1994-1999) to determine the infectious complications in these patients. One hundred ninety-one patients with SL2 were admitted because of infection. Lower respiratory tract infection was the most commonly found in these patients (24.6%) followed by infections of the urinary tract (15.7%), skin (15.7%), septicemia (13.6%) and the musculoskeletal system (11.5%). The most common pathogens were Salmonella spp (12.6%), while Escherichiae coli (9.9%) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (8.4), respectively.