Branhamella catarrhalis and respiratory tract infections

Branhamella catarrhalis, a Gram negative diplococci, is gaining increasing recognition as a respiratory pathogen. In this study 40 sputum samples were collected from patients with acute or chronic lower respiratory tract infections and 15 samples from healthy controls. Each sample was examined for the isolation and identification of B. catarrhalis and other respiratory pathogens. From the control group 3 strains of B. catarrhalis were encountered: two of these were of low number in the collected sample and the third was found in a sample containing low number of leukocytes and more than 10 BSE cells/HPF which indicate that the sample was just saliva. From the cases of this study B. catarrhalis was isolated from 7 sputum samples. It was of the same frequency of isolation as the other known respiratory pathogens, more in old age, smokers and ex-smokers and all the strains were in mixed infections. B. catarrhalis isolated in this study were susceptible to cephalosporin regardless of the production of Beta-lactamase.