FLAVOBACTERIUM INDOLOGENES BACTEREMIA - CLINICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

To our knowledge, Flavobacterium indologenes has never been reported a s a cause of bacteremia in humans. F. indologenes bacteremia was diagn osed in 12 patients at a tertiary referral center in southern Taiwan b etween 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1994. Six of these patients had ventilator-associated pneumonia, two had primary bacteremia, and one p atient each had pyonephrosis, peritonitis, biliary tract infection, an d surgical wound infection. Five patients (42%) had malignancies, and three (25%) had multiple burns. Polymicrobial bacteremia was diagnosed in eight patients (67%). Two (17%) of the patients in this study died ; both had polymicrobial bacteremia. Antimicrobial susceptibility test ing of the blood isolates from the 12 patients showed that >90% of the isolates were susceptible to piperacillin, cefoperazone, ceftazidime, and minocycline. The chromatograms of esterified fatty acids for the isolates were identical. F. indologenes should be considered an etiolo gic agent of bloodstream infection, especially in hospitalized patient s with severe underlying diseases.