Pneumococcal bacteremia in cancer patients.

Twenty-eight episodes of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteremia occurring in 27 cancer patients hospitalized in the Institut Jules Bordet between July 1979 and April 1985 were reviewed. Ten patients had hematological malignancies and 17 had solid tumors (in 7 cases, of the lung). Forty-four per cent of the patients were neutropenic (less than 1000/microliters) and 36% of the patients were in septic shock. In 36% of the patients no clinical source of S. pneumoniae bacteremia could be found. Seventy-nine (21% patients) received empirical antibiotic treatment containing a beta-lactam. Two patients who did not receive any empirical treatment died within 12 hours. Overall, 11/27 patients died within the first week, and 8/27 died within the first three days. Mortality in neutropenic patients was not different from that in non-neutropenic patients. In comparison with a similar study performed previously in our institution, there was no difference in incidence, type of patient, source of bacteremia, or mortality.