Survival of Vibrio vulnificus in whole blood from patients with chronic liver diseases: Association with phagocytosis by neutrophils and serum ferritin levels

Vibrio vulnificus causes severe wound infections and sepsis, mostly in pers ons with chronic liver diseases. Survival of this organism in the whole blo od collected from healthy volunteers and patients with chronic hepatitis, l iver cirrhosis, and hepatoma was analyzed as an indication of susceptibilit y, The bacterial numbers in the blood after 5 h of incubation tended to inc rease with the severity of the liver disease and differed significantly bet ween hepatoma patients and healthy volunteers (P < .05), Survival of V. vul nificus in the whole blood correlated positively with serum ferritin concen tration (r = .266; P < .05) and percentage of transferrin iron saturation ( r = .200; P < .05) and correlated negatively with serum C4 concentration (u = -.198; P < .05) and phagocytosis by neutrophils (r = -.204; P < .05). Am ong these parameters, low phagocytosis activity (P < .01) and high ferritin level (P < .01) in the blood were the independent predictors.