[Septicemia caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa serotype O 16 in a hemato-oncology department. Review of 17 cases].

Seventeen cases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa serotype O 16 septicaemia in patients with immune deficiencies are reported. All patients had a poor prognosis from the onset because of the advanced stage of their illness, the particular clinical form of their disease or because of the confirmed inefficacy of their anti-leukaemic chemotherapy. The neutrophil leukocyte count was less than 0.5 X 10(9)/l in all cases and 13 patients had also received wide-spectrum antibiotic therapy for at least 15 days. The septicaemia was accompanied by pelvic sepsis in 6 cases. The prognosis was very poor and 12 patients died rapidly in a state of shock. P. aeruginosa was an infrequent cause of infection during the 31 months period of observation but the O 16 serotype was the commonest in our department. The source of contamination seemed to be a chronic carrier state. P. aeruginosa is resistant to most of the antibiotics which would be expected to be effective.