Bacteraemia following perineal prostatic biopsy.

Forty patients undergoing needle biopsy of the prostate via the perineal route were studied bacteriologically. Four had positive blood cultures 5 min after the biopsy but none developed septicaemia, although no prophylactic antibiotics were used. Three of the four patients developing bacteraemia were found to have an unsuspected urinary tract infection and the same organisms were cultured from blood and urine, suggesting that this was the source of the bacteraemia.