Route of infection in extrahepatic biliary tract disease. I: Experimental evidence against an entero-hepatico-biliary cycle of bacteria.

E. Coli and Strep. faecalis inoculated intravenously in normal rabbits produced initial concentrations of 10(6) bacteria per ml blood. Culture of common duct bile collected continously via a catheter in the common duct, and of gallbladder bile aspirated by puncture, failed to demonstrate a passage of bacteria from blood to bile. Sterile common duct bile and gallbladder bile in the presence of high counts of viable bacteria in blood, gallbladder wall and liver tissue demonstrated that the intact biliary tract mucosa and the intactc liver form an effective barrier impermeable to E. coli or Strep. faecalis.