To the Editor.—Saccharomyces cerevisiae, baker's yeast, is an uncommon cause of infection in humans. Although it has been reported as a cause of fungemia in a patient with a prosthetic heart valve,¹as well as pulmonary infections,²it has never, to our knowledge, been reported to produce abdominal sepsis. We report a case of postoperative peritonitis caused byS cerevisiaethat was successfully treated with the new antifungal agent, ketoconazole. Report of a Case.—A 66-year-old man had signs of extrahepatic biliary obstruction, including painless jaundice and an enlarged gallbladder. A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was made, and the patient underwent an exploratory laparotomy. A large malignant neoplasm was found in the head of the pancreas, and a total pancreatectomy was carried out with choledochojejunostomy and gastrojejunostomy. The postoperative course was complicated by a prolonged ileus, low-grade fever, and a persistent leukocyte count in the range
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Steve H. Dougherty (1982) studied this question.