BACTERIAL TRANSLOCATION AS A CAUSE OF SEPTIC SHOCK IN HUMANS - A REPORT OF 2 CASES

While bacterial translocation has been reported to occur under numerou s conditions in animal models, there has been no paper to date focusin g on bacterial translocation as a direct cause of septic shock in huma ns. We present herein the cases of two patients who developed septic s hock believed to have been directly caused by bacterial translocation, Neither of the patients had a focus of infection, the intestinal wall s were intact in gross appearance, and the peritoneal cavity had not b een contaminated by surgery. Moreover, in both patients, the same orga nisms were detected in the blood, ascites fluid, and mesenteric lymph nodes, and bacilli were found in the intestinal wall.