Table 3.
Microbiological aspects associated with sepsis in patients with cellulitis
| All n = 606 |
No sepsis (n = 541) |
Sepsis (n = 65) |
P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Culture of the purulent collection | ||||
| Pus culture available | ||||
| Yes | 150 (24.8%) | 129 (23.8%) | 21 (32.3%) | 0.14 |
| No | 456 (75.2%) | 412 (76.2%) | 44 (67.7%) | |
| Results of culture | ||||
| Positive | 118 (78.7%) | 101 (78.3%) | 17 (81.0%) | 0.8 |
| Negative | 32 (21.3%) | 28 (21.7%) | 4 (19.0%) | |
| Positive culture | ||||
| Monomicrobial | 92 (78.0%) | 78 (77.2%) | 14 (82.4%) | 0.7 |
| Polymicrobial | 26 (22.0%) | 23 (22.8%) | 3 (17.6%) | |
| Aerobes (monomicrobial) * | ||||
| None | 32 (21.3%) | 28 (21.7%) | 4 (19.0%) | 0.6 |
| S aureus only | 45 (30.0%) | 41 (31.8%) | 4 (19.0%) | |
| Streptococci only | 18 (12.0%) | 14 (10.9%) | 4 (19.0%) | |
| Gram-neg bacilli only | 21 (14.0%) | 17 (13.2%) | 4 (19.0%) | |
| Others/polymicrobial | 34 (22.7%) | 29 (22.5%) | 5 (23.8%) | |
| Aerobes (mono or polymicrobial) * | ||||
| S aureus | 56 (37.3%) | 51 (39.5%) | 5 (23.8%) | 0.17 |
| No S aureus | 94 (62.7%) | 78 (60.5%) | 16 (76.2%) | |
| Streptococci | 24 (16.0%) | 20 (15.5%) | 4 (19.0%) | 0.7 |
| No streptococci | 126 (84.0%) | 109 (84.5%) | 17 (81.0%) | |
| Gram-negative bacilli | 43 (28.7%) | 37 (28.7%) | 6 (28.6%) | 1 |
| No Gram-neg bacilli | 107 (71.3%) | 92 (71.3%) | 15 (71.4%) | |
| Anaerobes * | ||||
| Yes | 8 (5.3%) | 6 (4.7%) | 2 (9.5%) | 0.3 |
| No | 142 (94.7%) | 123 (95.3%) | 19 (90.5%) | |
| Blood culture | ||||
| Blood culture available | ||||
| Yes | 252 (41.6%) | 207 (38.3%) | 45 (69.2%) | < 0.0001 |
| No | 354 (58.4%) | 334 (61.7%) | 20 (30.8%) | |
| Results of culture | ||||
| Positive | 46 (18.3%) | 35 (16.9%) | 11 (24.4%) | 0.2 |
| Negative | 206 (81.7%) | 172 (83.1%) | 34 (75.6%) | |
| Positive culture | ||||
| Monomicrobial | 46 (100%) | 35 (100%) | 11 (100%) | – |
| Polymicrobial | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| Aerobes ** | ||||
| None | 206 (81.7%) | 172 (83.1%) | 34 (75.6%) | 0.7 |
| S aureus | 8 (3.2%) | 7 (3.4%) | 1 (2.2%) | |
| Streptococci | 18 (7.1%) | 13 (6.3%) | 5 (11.1%) | |
| Gram-neg bacilli | 7 (2.8%) | 5 (2.4%) | 2 (4.4%) | |
| Others | 13 (5.2%) | 10 (4.8%) | 3 (6.7%) | |
| Anaerobes | ||||
| Yes | 1 (0.4%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (2.2%) | 0.18 |
| No | 251 (99.6%) | 207 (100%) | 44 (97.8%) | |
| Pus or blood culture | ||||
| Any culture | ||||
| Yes | 333 (55.0%) | 282 (47.9%) | 51 (78.5%) | 0.0001 |
| No | 273 (45.0%) | 259 (47.9%) | 14 (21.5%) | |
| Any microorganism identified | ||||
| Yes | 155 (25.6%) | 129 (23.8%) | 26 (40.0%) | 0.005 |
| No | 451 (74.4%) | 412 (76.2%) | 39 (60.0%) | |
| Specific microorganisms *** | ||||
| None | 178 (53.5%) | 153 (54.3%) | 25 (49.0%) | 0.4 |
| S aureus only | 50 (15.0%) | 45 (16.0%) | 5 (9.8%) | |
| Streptococci only | 33 (9.9%) | 25 (8.9%) | 8 (15.7%) | |
| Gram-neg bacilli only | 28 (8.4%) | 22 (7.8%) | 6 (11.8%) | |
| Others/polymicrobial | 44 (13.2%) | 37 (13.1%) | 7 (13.7%) | |
| Aerobes (mono or polymicrobial) *** | ||||
| S aureus | 61 (18.3%) | 55 (19.5%) | 6 (11.8%) | 0.19 |
| No S aureus | 272 (81.7%) | 227 (80.5%) | 45 (88.2%) | |
| Streptococci | 40 (12.0%) | 31 (11.0%) | 9 (17.6%) | 0.18 |
| No streptococci | 293 (88.0%) | 251 (89.0%) | 42 (82.4%) | |
| Gram-negative bacilli | 50 (15.0%) | 42 (14.9%) | 8 (15.7%) | 0.9 |
| No Gram-neg bacilli | 283 (85.0%) | 240 (85.1%) | 43 (84.3%) | |
| Causative microorganisms identified | ||||
| Yes | 143 (23.6%) | 120 (22.2%) | 23 (35.4%) | 0.006 |
| No | 453 (74.8%) | 414 (76.5%) | 39 (60.0%) | |
| Doubtful | 10 (1.7%) | 7 (1.3%) | 3 (4.6%) | |
* Respect to all patients with pus (*), blood (**) or any (***) culture