Detection of Endotoxemia by the Limulus Test in Patients with Indwelling Urinary Catheters

Limulus tests were performed on sera from 39 hospitalized patients with indwelling urethral catheters to determine the prevalence and significance of circulating endotoxin-like activity. Positive limulus tests were found in 17 of 24 catheterized patients (71 %) with gram-negative rod bacteriuria or...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 1973-10, Vol.128 (4), p.551-554
Main Authors: Garibaldi, Richard A., Allman, Glenn W., Larsen, Don H., Smith, Charles B., Burke, John P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteremia
Bacteria - isolation & purification
Bacteriuria
Bacteriuria - diagnosis
Bacteriuria - microbiology
Blood
Blood plasma
Candidiasis - urine
Catheters
Drainage
Endotoxins
Endotoxins - analysis
Enterobacteriaceae Infections - urine
Escherichia coli Infections - urine
Humans
Infections
Klebsiella Infections - urine
Limulus test
Methods
Prognosis
Proteus Infections - urine
Pseudomonas Infections - urine
Sepsis
Shock, Septic - diagnosis
Shock, Septic - etiology
Toxemia - diagnosis
Toxemia - microbiology
Urinary Catheterization
Urinary Tract Infections - blood
Urinary Tract Infections - diagnosis
Urinary Tract Infections - microbiology
Urine
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Summary:Limulus tests were performed on sera from 39 hospitalized patients with indwelling urethral catheters to determine the prevalence and significance of circulating endotoxin-like activity. Positive limulus tests were found in 17 of 24 catheterized patients (71 %) with gram-negative rod bacteriuria or candiduria. In addition, positive tests were found in three of 15 nonbacteriuric patients (20%), two of whom had documented or suspected infections outside the urinary tract. Positive tests were not associated with the severity of the patient's underlying disease, age, sex, antibiotic therapy, or prior surgery. There was no increased incidence of hypotensive episodes or evidence of thermoregulatory disturbances in patients on days in which positive limulus tests were detected. In addition, positive limulus tests were not associated with increased mortality. These results suggest that positive limulus tests may be found in many noncritically ill patients with indwelling urinary catheters and that a positive test need not be associated with a grave prognosis.
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1093/infdis/128.4.551