Antibiotic therapy of life-threatening infectious diseases in the emergency department.

Initial therapy in acutely ill septic patients is necessarily empiric. Although a specific etiologic infectious diagnosis is rarely made in an acute situation, a treatment decision must be made and must be developed from history, physical examination, and minimal laboratory and roentgen studies. Three life-threatening syndromes are discussed: febrile-neutropenic patients with cancer, immunosuppressed patients with fever and lung infiltrates, and patients with acute community-acquired meningitis.