Puerperal Septicemia and Endocarditis Caused by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

This report adds a 12th case to 11 documented cases of septicemia due to Pseudomonas in association with acute bacterial endocarditis. The patient, an Alaskan Indian woman, delivered a stillborn infant spontaneously under sterile controlled conditions. On the third postpartum day, treatment with procaine penicillin in doses of 600,000 (later increased to 1,000,000) units every six hours was instituted to treat infection. Pseudomonas as well as nonhemolytic staphylococci was cultured from the blood on the 30th postpartum day. Death occurred on the 59th postpartum day. Among other autopsy findings were Pseudomonas aeruginosa urinary infection, endometritis, septicemia, endocarditis, and meningitis. In addition there was adrenal necrosis with probable terminal failure. The increasing incidence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa septicemia, with acute endocarditis, is related to the use of antibiotics. The mortality of Pseudomonas septicemia is over 50%.