[Usefulness of bone-marrow culture in the etiological diagnosis of septicemia]

Considerations are made on the importance of septicemia and the difficulty for an early diagnosis in most patients. The great usefulness shown by bone-marrow culture in the diagnosis of typhoid fever is pointed out and it is considered that this procedure may lend great help in the etiologic diagnosis of general infections. Twenty patients with septicemia are analyzed and the frequency of bone-marrow culture and of blood culture positiveness are compared and it is found that the percentage is greater for the first than for the second.