Value of surveillance cultures in the management of neutropenic patients.

To assess whether bacteriological surveillance cultures can be used to predict infection in neutropenic patients, cultures were performed during the period of neutropenia of nose, throat and urine specimens collected once weekly and faeces specimens collected twice weekly. Seventy-six consecutively observed patients undergoing chemotherapy for haematological or non-haematological diseases were investigated. Severe infection including septicaemia, lower respiratory tract infection, anorectal lesion and urinary tract infection occurred in 32 patients. Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the organisms most commonly involved. In the majority of cases of septicaemia the organisms were isolated from the faeces, often in pure culture, prior to the onset of septicaemia. Most of the isolates of Enterobacter cloacae were resistant to the empiric antibiotic therapy used in the unit and were able to colonise multiple sites, presumably increasing the risk of subsequent infection. Faecal culture is the most useful approach in bacteriological surveillance in neutropenic patients.