Staphylococcus Aureus Pneumonia as a Complication during Treatment of Neurosurgical Patients with Mechanical Ventilation

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Abstract
During 1978 a high incidence of S. aureus pneumonia (11/54) was found in patients treated with mechanical hyperventilation for cerebral lesions, compared to other patients on mechanical ventilation in the same ward (1/48). Patients with cerebral lesions also had an increased risk of colonization with S. aureus. The patients were colonized and infected with different phage types of S. aureus. These factors in combination with the epidemiological data indicate that the increased infection rate is due to a specific impariment of the local defense mechanism in the respiratory tract of these patients and not to an increased exposure to epidemic strains of S. aureus. The course of the infections indicates that microscopical examination of material from endotracheal suctions is important in order to diagnose the infection as early as possible.