Table 2. Clinical and laboratory findings, confirmatory laboratory results, and therapies administered during hospitalization of persons who inject drugs and had Bacillus anthracis infection, Scotland, UK, 2009–2010*.
| Finding or test | Overall* | Survivor | Nonsurvivor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skin/limb findings | |||
| Localized edema | 22/24 (92) | 14/15 (93) | 8/9 (89) |
| Local pain | 19/21 (90) | 14/15 (93) | 5/6 (83) |
| Local erythema | 20/24 (83) | 13/16 (81) | 7/8 (88) |
| Skin lesion | 19/26 (73) | 11/16 (69) | 8/10 (80) |
| Limb pain | 12/22 (55) | 10/16 (63) | 2/6 (33) |
| Limb edema | 13/25 (52) | 10/16 (63) | 3/9 (33) |
| Limb mottling | 10/24 (42) | 5/15 (33) | 5/9 (56) |
| Exudate | 5/22 (23) | 4/16 (25) | 1/6 (17) |
| Distant edema | 4/21 (19) | 3/13 (23) | 1/8 (13) |
| Ulcer | 4/23 (17) | 3/15 (20) | 1/8 (13) |
| Eschar |
4/24 (17) |
3/16 (19) |
1/8 (13) |
| Chemistry, hematology, and arterial blood gas results (reference)† | |||
| Potassium, mmol/L (3.5–5.3 mmol/L) | 4.2 + 0.2 | 3.9 + 0.1 | 4.5 + 0.4 |
| Chloride, mmol/L (96–108 mmol/L) | 98 + 2 | 101 + 2 | 95 + 3 |
| Creatinine, μmol/L (40–130 μmol/L) | 108 + 14 | 93.4 + 16.1 | 130 + 24 |
| Blood urea nitrogen, mmol/L (2.5–7.8 mmol/L) | 8.3 + 1.6 | 7.3 + 2.5 | 9.8 + 1.7 |
| Glucose, mmol/L (3.6–6.0 mmol/L) | 8.9 + 1.0 | 7.3 + 1.4 | 10.4 + 1.2 |
| Alkaline phosphatase, U/L (30–130 U/L) | 113 + 14 | 106 + 15 | 121 + 27 |
| Alanine aminotransaminase, U/L (<50 U/L) | 44 + 15 | 53 + 33 | 37 + 6 |
| Total protein, g/L (60–80 g/L) | 61 + 3 | 65 + 3 | 55 + 5 |
| Leukocyte × 109/L (4–11 × 109/L) | 16.7 + 1.5 | 14.7 + 1.5 | 18.3 + 2.8 |
| Lymphocyte, % (18%–44%) | 0.15 + 0.02 | 0.16 + 0.03 | 0.13 + 0.02 |
| Fibrinogen, g/L (2–4.10 g/L) | 1.8 + 0.2 | 2.0 + 0.4 | 1.5 + 0.2 |
| Hydrogen ion concentration, nmol/L (35–50 nmol/L) | 43 + 2 | 40 + 3 | 45 + 3 |
| PaO2, kPa (9–20 kPa) | 21 + 3 | 18 + 4 | 23 + 4 |
| PaCO2, kPa (3.5–6.5 kPa) | 5.1 + 0.5 | 6.0 + 0.5 | 4.6 + 0.5 |
| Lactate, mmol/L (<2 mmol/L) |
3.8 + 1.0 |
1.7 + 0.4 |
5.2 + 1.5 |
| Confirmatory laboratory results | |||
| Blood culture | 14/26 (54) | 7/15 (47) | 7/11 (64) |
| Wound culture | 4/12 (33) | 4/10 (40) | 0/2 (0) |
| Tissue culture | 10/14 (71) | 5/8 (63) | 5/6 (83) |
| PCR | 12/20 (60) | 5/12 (42) | 7/8 (88) |
| Protective antigen antibody test | 12/17 (71) | 9/11 (82) | 3/6 (50) |
| Lethal factor antibody test | 10/18 (56) | 8/12 (67) | 2/6 (33) |
| Protective antigen ELISA | 10/15 (67) | 5/10 (50) | 5/5 (100) |
| Lethal factor ELISA | 8/13 (62) | 4/9 (44) | 4/4 (100) |
| Tissue Immunohistochemistry |
3/3 (100) |
2/2 (100) |
1/1 (100) |
| Therapies administered | |||
| Packed erythrocytes | 13/22 (59) | 7/13 (54) | 6/9 (67) |
| Fresh frozen plasma | 13/22 (59) | 6/13 (46) | 7/9 (78) |
| Platelets | 10/27 (37) | 4/16 (25) | 6/11 (55) |
| Cryoprecipitate | 3/20 (15) | 1/12 (8) | 2/8 (25) |
| Renal replacement therapy | 7/26 (27) | 3/15 (20) | 4/11 (36) |
| Pleural drainage | 4/27 (15) | 3/16 (19) | 1/11 (9) |
| Peritoneal drainage | 3/25 (12) | 0/15 (0) | 3/10 (3) |
*No. (%) patients noted to have the finding/total no. patients for whom data were provided, except for chemistry, hematology, and arterial blood gas results, for which values are indicated. †Mean ± SEM.