BACKGROUND: Bacteremic infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an uncommon and late phenomenon in the natural history of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Our objective was to study the clinico-epidemiological characteristics of P. aeruginosa bacteremia (PAB) in patients infected with HIV. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of 17 episodes of PAB in 16 patients infected with HIV in three tertiary hospitals in the Valencia Community. Data were collected by means of a protocol designed to obtain clinical and epidemiological information. RESULTS: Fourteen out of 16 HIV-positive patients with PAB were males and in nine patients the risk factor for the acquisition of HIV was parenteral drug abuse. Eighty-one percent (13 patients) met diagnostic criteria for AIDS. Fourteen patients had less than 100 CD4 lymphocytes/mm3 at diagnosis of bacteremia (mean value 25.8). PAB was acquired in the community in 13 episodes (76.4%). Nine patients (56.2%) had received some type of antimicrobial therapy during the last month, 12 (75%) were taking anti-retroviral therapy, and 6 (37.5%) were receiving prophylaxis against P. carinii. The most frequent source for PAB was pneumonia with 7 episodes (41.2%), followed by the intravascular catheter infection with 2 (12%). In six episodes (35.3%) no source was identified. Only one episode was evaluated as recurrence. Only two of the seven patients with pneumonia had pulmonary cavitation in the chest X-ray. Fifteen episodes resolved (94%) and in only one case was dead directly related to PAB. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, PAB in patients infected with HIV emerges in the advanced stages of disease. The most common source was the lower respiratory tract and in most cases PAB was acquired in the community. The mortality rate resulting from PAB was lower than that previously reported in the literature.
BACKGROUND:Bacteremic infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an uncommon and late phenomenon in the natural history of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Our objective was to study the clinico-epidemiological characteristics of P. aeruginosa bacteremia (PAB) in patients infected with HIV. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of 17 episodes of PAB in 16 patients infected with HIV in three tertiary hospitals in the Valencia Community. Data were collected by means of a protocol designed to obtain clinical and epidemiological information. RESULTS: Fourteen out of 16 HIV-positivepatients with PAB were males and in nine patients the risk factor for the acquisition of HIV was parenteral drug abuse. Eighty-one percent (13 patients) met diagnostic criteria for AIDS. Fourteen patients had less than 100 CD4 lymphocytes/mm3 at diagnosis of bacteremia (mean value 25.8). PAB was acquired in the community in 13 episodes (76.4%). Nine patients (56.2%) had received some type of antimicrobial therapy during the last month, 12 (75%) were taking anti-retroviral therapy, and 6 (37.5%) were receiving prophylaxis against P. carinii. The most frequent source for PAB was pneumonia with 7 episodes (41.2%), followed by the intravascular catheter infection with 2 (12%). In six episodes (35.3%) no source was identified. Only one episode was evaluated as recurrence. Only two of the seven patients with pneumonia had pulmonary cavitation in the chest X-ray. Fifteen episodes resolved (94%) and in only one case was dead directly related to PAB. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, PAB in patients infected with HIV emerges in the advanced stages of disease. The most common source was the lower respiratory tract and in most cases PAB was acquired in the community. The mortality rate resulting from PAB was lower than that previously reported in the literature.