[Bacteriology of abdominal pus in 43 cases of acute appendicitis and appendiceal abscess at the Ivrea-Castellamonte Hospital, isolation of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and drug sensitivity]

Abstract

A retrospective study on the microbiology of abdominal pus from acute appendicitis or peritonitis was carried out by the authors. A total of 45 specimens were examined, 38 of them (84.4%) where found to be positive, of which 29 (76.3%) were polymicrobial and 9 (23.7%) were monomicrobial. The most represented species were Escherichia coli (28.4%), Bacteroides fragilis (7.8%), Streptococcus milleri (7.8%), Bacteroides oralis (3.9%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3.9%). The polymicrobial associations more represented include Bacteroidaceae, Enterobacteriaceae and streptococcus genus. The most active drugs in vitro were found to be Piperacillin and Chloramphenicol, Cephalosporin (cefotaxime, ceftriaxone and cefoxitin) showed a good capability of being active against isolated microorganisms although they were less effective when used against anaerobic microorganisms then aerobic ones. On the contrary, Rifampicin, Metronidazole and Clindamycin were found to be quite effective against the anaerobes.