Hospital-acquired sinusitis is a common cause of fever of unknown origin in orotracheally intubated critically ill patients

Table 2 Results of sinus fluid cultures of patients with gross abnormalities in their initial sinus X-ray

Bacterium	Sinus fluid	Same MO cultured from tracheal aspirate	Same MO cultured from blood
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	32	22	8
Klebsiella oxytoca	5	3	1
Klebsiella pneumoniae	17	10	2
Enterococcus faecalis	10	2	1
Enterobacter cloacae	12	4	0
Escherichia coli	16	8	1
Staphylococcus aureus	8	3	1
Gram-positive mixture	11	-	-
Gram-negative mixture	14	-	-
Other^a	15	8	1
Total	140	60	15

There were 101 patients with gross abnormalities in their initial sinus X-ray. Positive cultures were obtained in 84 patients, with 140 different types of microorganisms (MOs). Columns 3 and 4 show positive results of the same microorganisms (MOs) cultured from tracheal aspirate and blood, cultured in the period between 24 hours before and 48 hours after sinus drainage.
^aOther pathogens included anaerobic bacteria (such as Bacteroides sp.) and fungi (Candida sp.).