[Early septicemia episodes in 143 bone marrow grafts]

Twenty-one early bacteremias have occurred before engraftment in 143 allogeneic bone marrow transplantation recipients. In the majority of cases (13/21) Gram positive cocci were isolated with a predominance of coagulase-negative staphylococci (62%). The analysis of the infection prevention program showed that: 1) the adjunction of vancomycin to a total gut decontamination did not decrease significantly the incidence of bacteremia caused by Gram positive cocci. 2) The isolation in laminar air flow room seems to decrease the severity of infections but does not influence their frequency.