Effects of glucose therapy on experimental Escherichia coli septicemia.

Therapeutic and prophylactic employment of glucose infusion during E. coli septicemia apparently induces a reversal of the effect, manifested by the presence of the organism and its by-products. Dogs, receiving a continual infusion of E. coli at 1 × 10⁷/ ml with elevated blood glucose levels, showed a 1000-fold decrease in circulating bacteria within 2 hr when compared with control animals. Dogs prophylactically treated cleared circulating E. coli in 30 to 60 min, sooner than control animals.Glucose infusion employed therapeutically and prophylactically has a curative effect in Gram-negative septicemias and bacteremias.