[Infection caused by gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. A comparative study].

The clinical symptomatology of bacterial septicemias was analysed in 417 patients of a University Hospital in West Berlin. Sepsis was caused by Gram-negative organisms in 229 cases, and by Gram-positive bacteria in 177 cases; 11 cases presented with a mixed type sepsis involving both Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. With the exception of a drop in blood pressure, observed appreciably more often in Gram-negative infections (42.4% of the cases as compared with only 25.4% in the case of septicemia due to Gram-positive organisms, (p less than 0.01), no significant clinical differences were seen between Gram-negative and Gram-positive sepsis. Pathophysiological changes (thrombopenia, leukopenia, coagulopathies) that are considered classical reactions to endotoxin, were also observed in Gram-positive infections. The overall prognosis of septicemia was determined largely by the severity of the underlying pathological condition.