[Streptococcus bovis bacteremia and colonic diseases].

Four febrile patients were found to have a bacteraemia or endocarditis caused by Streptococcus bovis. Although there were no gastrointestinal symptoms, polyps in the colon, of a high degree of malignancy, were discovered in three. In the fourth, carcinoma of the colon, requiring resection, was found seven years after Streptococcus bovis endocarditis. The polyps were removed by endoscopy and the Streptococcus bovis infection in all cases cured by penicillin. All four patients had accompanying resistance-lowering illnesses, which favoured microbial invasion.