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Suppurative Thrombophlebitis: Correlation Between Pathogen and Underlying Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Capt Robert A. Johnson ,
Capt Robert A. Zajac  and
Maj Martin E. Evans
Capt Robert A. Johnson*
Affiliation:
Division of Internal Medicine and the Infectious Disease Service, Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas
Capt Robert A. Zajac
Affiliation:
Division of Internal Medicine and the Infectious Disease Service, Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas
Maj Martin E. Evans
Affiliation:
Division of Internal Medicine and the Infectious Disease Service, Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas
*
Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center/SGHMMH, Lackland AFB, TX 78236
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Abstract

We identified 29 episodes of suppurative thrombophlebitis in 27 patients admitted to a large general hospital between May 1980 and May 1984. In 25 patients, the intravenous cannulae had been in place for more than 3 days. Streptococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or one of the Enterobacteriaceae were implicated in 14 patients. All these patients had recently undergone abdominal surgery or had a major intraabdominal inflammatory process at the time they developed thrombophlebitis. The remaining 13 patients were infected with Staphylococcus aureus, other grampositive cocci or Candida species. Only two of these had an active abdominal process at the time of their infection (x2 = 16.08, P<0.001). There is an apparent association between phlebitis caused by enteric organisms and active intra-abdominal pathology. There were two deaths related to delayed or deferred surgery. Suppurative thrombophlebitis is a lethal, preventable nosocomial infection that requires urgent surgical intervention.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 7 , Issue 12 , December 1986 , pp. 582 - 585
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1986

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