ACTINOMYCES NAESLUNDII IN PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES

Abstract

Mycotic infections have been commonly encountered in patients with hematological malignancies. The current study seeks the prevalence of actinomycete infection in patients suffering from blood cells malignancies. A hundred and fifty patients with some kinds of blood cells dyscrasia who underwent the bone marrow aspiration were recruited. In addition to the diagnostic work up, samples were examined for the presence of actinomycete infections. Twenty one samples were positive for actinomycete infections. All of them were infected by Actinomyces naeslundii. All the positive patients were categorized in malignant groups, acute myelocytic leukemia, chronic myelocytic leukemia, and lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndrome. High incidence of actinomycete infections in the present study population was interesting. These results can also be suggestive of a pre-malignancy role for the actinomycosis.