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Dental Health

Dental health and viridans streptococcal bacteremia in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 27, pages 537–542 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Viridans streptococci were the most common cause of bacteremia in 61 consecutive myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients, occurring in 19 of 31 bacteremic patients (61%) during the period of post-transplant neutropenia. Seven of the 19 had more than one viridans streptococcus in the same blood culture. Twenty isolates from 15 patients were Streptococcus mitis. Most viridans streptococci were resistant to norfloxacin, used routinely for prophylaxis. Comparison of the 19 patients with viridans streptococcal bacteremia with a contemporaneous group of 23 allogeneic HSCT recipients with fever and neutropenia but no identified focus of infection found that patients with viridans streptococcal bacteremia were more likely to have severe intraoral pathology while neutropenic (26% vs 0%) and slightly shorter interval between the last dental procedure and the onset of neutropenia (11 vs 14 days). Poor underlying dental health and the use of norfloxacin thus appear to predispose to viridans streptococcal bacteremia. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2001) 27, 537–542.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Daniel Fedorko and Dr Steve Yan of the Microbiology Service, Clinical Pathology Department, WG Magnuson Clinical Center for their efforts in obtaining norfloxacin suceptibilities for the majority of the isolates studied in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Mycology Section, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    CJ Graber, KNF de Almeida & JE Bennett

  2. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    JC Atkinson & D Javaheri

  3. Department of Clinical Pathology, Microbiology Service, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    CD Fukuda & VJ Gill

  4. Stem Cell Allotransplant Unit, Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    AJ Barrett

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Graber, C., de Almeida, K., Atkinson, J. et al. Dental health and viridans streptococcal bacteremia in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Bone Marrow Transplant 27, 537–542 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1702818

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