Bacteremia and septicemia in small animal patients.

Bacteremias and septicemias are diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Disseminated bacterial infections may be associated with a number of different conditions and can present with any of a wide variety of clinical signs. Additionally, they are often complicated by the adverse effects of an overzealous immune response in the patient. The most immediately severe and life threatening of these complications is septic shock, a frequent sequela to bacteremia characterized by endotoxin-producing gram-negative microorganisms. Infection with any of a large number of gram-positive or gram-negative aerobes or anaerobes is possible, as is mixed infection. Definitive diagnosis of bacteremia is by repeatable isolation of the pathogen(s) from culture of the patient's blood. Successful therapeutic outcome is dependent on early diagnosis and prompt treatment with a prolonged course of high doses of bactericidal antibiotics, facilitated by in vitro sensitivity testing.