Key Points
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The mouths of elderly medically compromised patients can become abnormally colonised by aerobic Gram-negative bacilli
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In rare cases this can lead to septicaemia
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The colonisation can be prevented or eliminated by selective oral use of non-absorbable antibiotics (selective decontamination)
Abstract
Oral colonisation with aerobic Gram-negative bacilli (AGNB) is abnormal and usually indicates a medically compromised state in the host. It has been postulated tat oral colonisation with ABNB may predispose a patient to serious systematic infection but proof of this assertion is lacking. This report describes an elderly patient who had oral colonisation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and developed septicaemia from an identical strain of this bacterium.
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References
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Gosney, M., Preston, A., Corkhill, J. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa septicaemia from an oral source. Br Dent J 187, 639–640 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4800355
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4800355
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