Bacterial colonization post-mortem cerebrospinal fluid: Hospital de San José October 2007 - October 2008

Colonización bacteriana pors mórtem del líquido cefalorraquídeo: Hospital de San José octubre 2007 - octubre 2008

As it is an imperative of the San José Hospital to determine the microorganism responsible for neuroinfection at the time of autopsy, it is necessary to carry out research that determines the prevalence and frequency of bacterial colonization; Likewise, it is important to identify Gram-positive and negative bacterial germs in patients who died at the institution. This cross-sectional study was conducted in hospitalized patients over 18 years of age who died in the Hospital of San José between October 1, 2007 and October 1, 2008, who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Transcisternal puncture and cerebrospinal fluid sample were taken with the authorization of the relatives and the standardized culture for Gram positive and negative aerobic germs was processed. The study was conducted with 25 patients who died at the Hospital of San José, of whom 28% showed growth in the CSF culture of isolated samples in a time shorter than thirteen hours post mortem (seven cases). Abbreviations: CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; CNS, central nervous system.

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