We identified 29 episodes of suppurative thrombophlebitis in 27 patients admitted to a large general hospital between May 1980 and May 1984. In 25 patients, the intravenous cannulae had been in place for more than 3 days. Streptococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or one of the Enterobacteriaceae were implicated in 14 patients. All these patients had recently undergone abdominal surgery or had a major intra-abdominal inflammatory process at the time they developed thrombophlebitis. The remaining 13 patients were infected with Staphylococcus aureus, other gram-positive cocci or Candida species. Only two of these had an active abdominal process at the time of their infection (chi 2 = 16.08, P less than 0.001). There is an apparent association between phlebitis caused by enteric organisms and active intra-abdominal pathology. There were two deaths related to delayed or deferred surgery. Suppurative thrombophlebitis is a lethal, preventable nosocomial infection that requires urgent surgical intervention.

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