The Classification of Nonhemolytic Streptococci Recovered from Bacteremia of Dental Origin

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Abstract
Of 160 strains of aerobic nonhemolytic streptococci, isolated from the blood of patients after dental extractions and classified by serologic and physiologic tests, 47 strains were members of Lancefield Groups A, C, F, K, and L. Of the remaining strains, 94 were identified as viridans and 19 could not be classified. There is little doubt that all of these spp. occur in the oral cavity. The present knowledge of their proportional distr. in the mouth is too scanty to attempt a comparison with their representation in blood cultures. Although Streptococcus salivarius is one of the more common members of the oral flora, we found only a small number in our collection. Streptococcus sanguis was isolated from a high percentage of cases of subacute bacterial endocarditis, yet few were identified in our bacteremia studies. We conclude that a few of the streptococci recovered from bacteremia of dental origin are potential producers of subacute bacterial endocarditis. Streptococcemia was frequently caused by 2 or more different strains of organisms. When streptococci were recovered repeatedly from blood samples of the same patient, the strains were rarely identical. The sp. of streptococci recovered did not show any relationship to medical history of the patient.