A retrospective evaluation of infections that occurred at the National Cancer Institute of Milan during 1971 showed that the majority of them were still produced by gram-positive bacilli, even in myelosuppressed patients with leukemia and lymphoma. Only in patients with urinary tract infection and in febrile patients with bronchogenic carcinoma was the incidence of gram-negative higher than that of gram-positive infections. The persistence of the predominance of gram-positive versus gram-negative bacilli could be partly due to the fact some new antibiotics have been introduced into clinical practice later in Italy then in other countries. The incidence of fungi positive cultures was comparable to that reported in other centers. The importance of knowing the bacterial ecology in a given center or ward in order to choose the appropriate initial antibiotic therapy is discussed.
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