A detailed bacteriologic study was done on 161 patients operated for appendicitis. Aerobic and anaerobic cultures were taken from the blood, the appendicular lumen, mucosa, serosa, fossa, and from the wound after closure of the peritoneum. There is no correlation between the degree of appendicitis and the incidence of positive blood culture. The infection spread through the appendicular wall as the disease progressed. Aerobic infection was common in early appendicitis but a mixed aerobic and anaerobic infection was predominant in late cases. Late appendicitis, a positive wound culture at the end of the operation, the duration of symptoms of over 36 hours before operation and the age of the patient over 50 years were all associated with an increased incidence of septic complication. From the antibiotic sensitivity on the bacteria isolated, the most effective agent against anaerobes was metronidazole. Effective agents against the aerobes were aminoglycosides and cephalosporins. The best single agent against both anaerobes and aerobes was moxalactum.

The accuracy of differential quantitative blood culture in the diagnosis of central venous catheter sepsis was evaluated in 24 parenterally-fed patients in whom catheter sepsis was suspected. The pour-plate quantitative culture technique was performed immediately before removal of the catheter on blood drawn through the central venous catheter and a peripheral vein. If bacterial colonies in the catheter blood specimen were sevenfold more frequent than identical bacterial colonies in the peripheral blood specimen, the test was considered positive and indicative of catheter sepsis. Catheter-tip culture identified 9 of the 24 patients as positive for catheter sepsis. A positive differential quantitative blood culture result was found for seven of the nine infected catheters. Sensitivity of this test was 77.8%, specificity was 100%, and overall accuracy was 91.7%. It is concluded that differential quantitative blood culture is a reliable method for the exclusion of catheter sepsis.

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