[Blood bactericidal activity and clinical course of 168 patients having septicemia]

The value of serum bactericidal activity (SBA) determination for assessing the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy was evaluated in a retrospective open study in 168 cases of septicemia. Outcomes in a first group (I) of 67 patients with a SBA of at least 1/4 were compared with outcomes in a second group (II) of 101 patients with a SBA below 1/4 or non-determined. Within these groups, outcomes of 37 septicemias due to Gram negative bacilli (subgroup Ia) and 22 staphylococcal septicemias (subgroup Ib) with a SBA greater than or equal to 1/4 were compared with outcomes in 26 septicemias due to Gram negative bacilli (subgroup IIa) and 22 staphylococcal septicemias (subgroup IIb) with a SBA less than 1/4. Statistical analysis of distribution of age, sex, underlying disease, biologic parameters and antibiotics given demonstrated no significant difference between the various groups. 56 patients (86.1%) recovered in group I, against 76 (79.1%) in group II; corresponding figures are 34 (91.1%) and 21 (84%) in subgroups Ia and IIa respectively. These differences are not significant (p greater than 0.05). Our findings suggest that an "effective" SBA fails to correlate with favorable outcome of septicemia.