Invasive group B streptococcal disease in nonpregnant adults

Forty episodes of invasive group B streptococcal infections in nonpregnant adults at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto, South Africa, were retro spectively reviewed. The mean age of the patients was 45.6 years. Twenty (5 0%) patients were bacteraemic. Common predisposing conditions included diab etes mellitus (27.5%), trauma (25%), and HIV infection (12.5%), Soft tissue abscesses and pneumonia accounted for 70% of the presentations. Ten (25%) patients had acquired the infection nosocomially. Death occurred in 14 (35% ) patients and was significantly associated with bacteraemia (P=0.0009) and pneumonia (P=0.0012). Trauma is an important predisposing condition, and H IV infection may have played a role in the setting described; both factors probably accounted for the relatively young age of the patients.