1College of Clinical Medicine, Jining Medical University, Jining 272067, China; 2Department of Imaging, 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, 5Department of Infectious Disease, 6Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining 272029, China; 4Department of Critical Care Medicine, Wenshang People′s Hospital, Jining 272500, China
Abstract：ObjectiveTo explore the clinical characteristics and the pathogen characteristics of viridans streptococci infection in elderly patients. MethodsA total of 75 elderly patients aged 65 years and above who were diagnosed with viridans streptococcal infection in the bacterial database of the Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University from June 2016 to December 2020 were sellected, and their related clinical data were summarized and retrospectively analyzed. Results75 elderly patients were collected, including 39 males (52.00%). There were 55 cases (73.33%) with basic diseases. Thirty cases (40.00%) conset by acute fever. The most common type of bacterial culture specimen was sterile body fluid. The classifications of bacterium were as follows: streptococcus mitis in 11 cases (14.67%), streptococcus sanguis in 14 cases (18.67%), streptococcus anginosus in 50 cases (66.67%). Six cases (8.00%) were infected combining with gram-negative bacilli, 2 cases （2.67%） underwent toxic shock syndrome. The drug resistance rates of erythromycin, clindamycin and levofloxacin were 65.33% (49/75), 68.00% (51/75) and 16.00% (12/75) and low resistance rate to ceftriaxone (6.67%,5/75) and cefotaxime (4.00%,3/75). ConclusionsStreptococcus virifolia is a common infection group, which is prone to opportunistic infection in the elderly population. Fever is the most common clinical symptom, and pathogenic bacteria may involve multiple systems, and toxic shock syndrome may be induced in severe cases.
