[Septicemia in the elderly (author's transl)].

Out of 1,251 patients above 65 years of age staying at the Charles Foix Hospital (prolonged hospitalization) and the St. Joseph Hospital (acute cases), 168 had one or more positive blood cultures. Urinary tract infection is a major source of septicemia due to gram negative bacilli. It is important to stress cases of septicemia due to pneumococcal pneumoniae, eschars, and other skin lesions. Mortality varies between 33 and 36%, depending upon the hospital. Collapse, although infrequent, still portends a grave prognosis (61% of cases of collapse led to death at Charles Foix Hospital). The combination of more than two risk factors considerably worsens the prognosis. Hypoproteinemia and dementia are every bit as grave as diabetes and cancer. A better isolation of the microorganisms involved in cases of septicemia in the elderly will lead to a more judicious choice of antibiotics. The administration of chemotherapy immediately after the samples were obtained remains the main guarantee of successful therapy.