Bacteria in the Biliary Tract: A Study of Their Frequency and Type

The frequency and type of bacteria in the bile of 160 consecutive patients who underwent biliary tract operations were recorded. Normal bile was sterile. In the presence of gallbladder stones, but in the absence of acute cholecystitis, a positive culture was obtained in 14%. In patients with acute cholecystitis, 54% of cultures were positive. In those with choledocholithiasis, 59% were positive and when associated with jaundice, 76% were positive. All bile from those patients with benign strictures of the bile duct grew pathogens, but in only a small proportion of those with malignant biliary obstruction were the cultures positive. The causative organisms of wound infection and of septicaemia were usually the same as those grown from the bile of that patient.