Infection in the intensive care unit.

An epidemic of infection associated with Serratia marcescens and other Gram-negative organisms resistant to aminoglycosides and other chemotherapeutic agents occurred in the intensive care unit of St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, and spread to other areas of the hospital. This paper describes the problems of sepsis in the critically ill patient, outlines the occurrence of organisms in the patients concerned in this epidemic, and discusses the policies adopted to control the incidence of life-threatening infection caused by bacteria resistant to all other agents.