Pseudomonas cepacia septicemia in patients with burns: report of two cases

Pseudomonas cepacia has been ascribed to low pathogenicity in man. Within a 10-day period this organism caused 2 cases of septicemia in the Karolinska Hospital burn unit, one with fatal outcome. Both cases were severely burned patients. A serological response to Ps. cepacia was observed in the surviving patient. The blood isolates from the patients showed a very high degree of similarity in biochemical tests, indicating a common origin although the source was not found. The characteristic antibiogram with resistance to aminoglycosides as well as ampicillin and most cephalosporins causes therapeutic problems, since many septicemias of unknown origin are treated with a combination of ampicillin and an aminoglycoside.