EARLY PREDICTION OF GRAM-POSITIVE BACTEREMIA IN FEVERISH EGYPTIAN PATIENTS USING SOME SELECTED INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS

Bloodstream infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Some components of the bacterial cell wall bind to receptors on the cell surface of the host monocytes and macrophages and induce cytokines production. This study assessed the levels of IL- 6 and TNF-α in 36 feverish Egyptian patients, with Gram positive bacterial infections. For early prediction of the infection, blood culture samples from feverish patients were collected from different medical hospitals in Cairo, Egypt. The recovered Gram-positive isolates were identified as Staphylococcus species and Micrococcus species. For patients, IL-6 and TNF-α were measured in the patients’ sera by ELISA. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined for the tested isolates using 16 antibiotics by Kirby Bauer disk diffusion. Cell membrane protein profile was performed to detect the bands responsible for TNF- α production.  The IL-6 and TNF-α in sera of all patients, with Gram-positive bacterial infections, showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher levels as compared to that of their counterparts with negative bacterial blood cultures. Tested isolates showed antimicrobial resistance to most tested antibiotics. The bacterial cell membrane proteins bands between 29-36 kDa were detected in the tested isolates. Some Inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α) can be used as valuable tools for early prediction of Gram-positive bacterial infections even before culture results are available.