Spontaneous ascitic fluid infection in liver cirrhosis: bacteriological profile among patients admitted in a tertiary care hospital, mysore

Background: Spontaneous ascitic fluid infection (SAI) is an acute infection of ascitic fluid. SAI has three subtypes; SBP, CNNA, MNB. The prototype is Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP). SBP is a frequent and serious complication in patients with cirrhosis leading to significant mortality and morbidity. Diagnosis of SBP is mainly established by elevated polymorphonuclear leukocyte count and positive ascitic fluid bacterial culture. Methodology: Records of patients with suspected diagnosis of Spontaneous ascitic fluid infection were analyzed in the present study. Patients admitted in the last one year i.e., between January 2014 to December 2014 with ascites secondary to cirrhosis were included. All patients with decompensated cirrhosis had undergone ascitic fluid paracenetesis after admission to the hospital. Ascitic fluid was centrifuged and analyzed for Total protein, Albumin, Total and Differential leukocyte count. Ascitic fluid was cultured by using BacTec method to determine the growth of microorganism. Antimicrobial test was performed using disc diffusion method. The data were tabulated and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Conclusion: SAI was detected in 15.7% of the patients. The most common organism isolated was enteric gram negative bacilli. The leading cause of cirrhosis among patients admitted was alcohol consumption