EVALUATION OF THE OPPORTUNISTIC MICROBIAL-FLORA AND OF SOME ANTIMICROBIAL FACTORS IN THE ORAL CAVITY OF LEUKEMIC PATIENTS

The occurrence of opportunistic pathogens and the concentration of som e antimicrobial factors in the oral cavity of both acute and chronic l eukaemia patients were studied. Enterobacteria were isolated from both dental plaque and crevicular fluid of all the groups examined, with f ew differences between healthy volunteers and leukaemic subjects; yeas ts were found in both the crevicular fluid and the dental plaque sampl es of chronic leukaemia patients, but only in the plaque of healthy vo lunteers. Acute leukaemia patients did not have yeasts, but they were the only group colonized by the pseudomonads. IgA and N-acetyl-D-gluco saminidase (NAGase) significantly increased in chronic leukaemia patie nts compared with controls, whilst lysozyme seemed to present no marke d differences for all groups. A further increase in NAGase concentrati on and an elevation in lysozyme content of saliva was observed for chr onic leukaemia patients with severe periodontal lesions.