Infectious diseases in end-stage liver disease patients.

Patients with chronic liver diseases sustain impairment to immune systems, which worsens over time. These defects in their host defense lead to risks of bacterial infections and increased morbidity. Providers should have heightened surveillance for infectious diseases and suspect one with any acute change in status. Patient history may reveal rare infections and allow initiation of early appropriate therapy. There should be a low threshold for obtaining diagnostic cultures and peritoneal fluid samples and discussing possible causes with an infectious diseases consultant or a microbiology laboratory. These maneuvers will maximize therapy in patients at high risk for death due to infectious disease.