Influence of gastrostomy on the colonization of the stomach: impact on neonatal septicaemia.

Quantitative bacterial counts were carried out on 161 gastric aspirates of 65 neonates with gastrostomy. In comparison to 101 controls--cultures of premature infants without gastrostomy--Enterobacteriaceae, enterococci, Pseudomonas and Candida were found far more frequently (p less than 0.01). The colonization of the stomach was influenced by the duration of gastrostomy and by the pH of the gastric juice but not by systemic antibiotic therapy or the kind of food. Six newborns with gastrostomy developed septicaemia caused by the same organisms as we had found in elevated numbers in their gastric aspirates. The influence of non-absorbable antibiotics was studied prospectively in 72 gastric aspirates and 48 stool specimens. There was no highly significant difference between infants who had been treated with these antibiotics and those who had not.