Hospital-based study of viridans streptococcal bacteraemia in children and adults.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the proportion and clinical significance of bacteraemia caused by viridans streptococci (VS) in immunocompetent adults and children.

METHODS

Over a 25-month period, we collected data on all patients with VS bacteraemia at a UK district general hospital.

RESULTS

VS caused 50/723 (6.9%) adult and 13/106 (12.3%) paediatric community-acquired bacteraemias. Of the 43 adult and 12 paediatric patient notes reviewed, 26 (47.3%) cultures were of 'definite' or 'probable' clinical significance. No patients were neutropenic and overall penicillin resistance was 11/55 (20.0%). Amongst adults, there were five (11.6%) confirmed or suspected cases of infective endocarditis compared to none in the paediatric cohort. Similar proportions of adults (16.3%) and children (16.7%) had lower respiratory tract infections. Among non-significant cultures, a history of seizures was observed in one (1.3%) adult and four (33.3%) children (p=0.008). Thirty-day mortality was 7.3%. No children and four adults died, one directly attributable to infection. Median adult inpatient stay was 11 days compared to 2 days in the paediatric population (p=0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

Despite cases of infective endocarditis and an incidence of penicillin resistance of 20%, mortality directly attributable to VS infection in immunocompetent adults and children was rare.