Bacterial Growth Rate In Cystic Fibrosis Pulmonary Exacerbation

Abstract

There is significant microbial diversity in the spectrum produced by cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Bacterial load in sputum has been reported to be a poor predictor of pulmonary exacerbations (PE). Our previous cross sectional study that Stapnyiococcus aureus (SA) generation times in vivo are far slower and more heterogeneous in CF patients than the growth rates that characterize SA grown in the laboratory. SA generation time was found to be slowest in acutely ill patients during PE and significantly higher in patients who were well. During treatment of a PE, there was an initial decrease in sputum SA grown rate followed by a return to baseline growth rate over the course of a hospital stay. Bacterial growth rate heterogeneity could contribute to inconsistent recovery time from a CF PE. In this study, we performed a longitudinal analysis of SA growth rate during the treatment of PE.