Group B streptococcal bacteremia in men

Twenty-three episodes of bacteremia due to group B Streptococcus (GBS) in men were reviewed for both clinical and microbiologic features. The commonest sources of bacteremia were infections of the respiratory tract (seven cases), skin (five cases), urinary tract (four cases), and intravenous access sites (four cases). Sixteen (70%) of the cases of bacteremia were hospital acquired, and 10 (43%) were polymicrobial (seven with Staphylococcus aureus). GBS bacteremia was generally low-grade and brief as assessed by the percentage and persistence of positive blood cultures. Among patients bacteremic with GBS alone, there were no instances of shock or metastatic suppuration and only one death as a direct result of sepsis. Overall however, nine other patients died of their underlying disease during the same hospitalization. GBS bacteremia in men is, in itself, generally a moderate infection, but it is often found as part of more complex sepsis in hospitalized patients with serious, often fatal, predisposing illnesses.