Sanaullah Tareen, Rubina Aman, Shagufta Hussain, Aria Masoom, Muhammad Zaman, Munawar Khan Massod.
Bacteriology of acute thoracic empyema in a tertiary care hospital.
Int J Pathol Jan ;5(2):72-6.

This observational prospective study was conducted in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad from August 2006 to March 2007 with the objective of defining the bacteriology of Empyema thoracis in patients admitted to the department of Pulmonology, PIMS, Islamabad. Total of 42 patients,34 (81%) male and 8 (19%) female, who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of Empyema thoracis, were included in the study. Mean age of subjects was 43 years (95% C.I., 37.74-49.44). Aspirated empyema fluid was subjected to routine and AFB culture. Direct microscopic examination of Gram and Ziehl-Neelsen stained smears were also carried out. Of 42 empyema fluids, only 11 (26%) yielded bacterial growth on culture. All but two sample yielded gram negative enteric rods (91%); Strept. pyogenes being the only other organism isolated from two samples. No sample was found to be positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It was concluded that Gram negative enteric rods were the commonest etiological agents of Empyema thoracis in our set up. It was incidentally found that 28 (66.7%) subjects were diabetics, 5 (11.9%) were HCV positive and 7 (16.70%) were in renal failure. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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