Twenty-three patients with leukemia between March 1982 and September 1988 were treated with allogenic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Fifteen patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and other patients were examined for changes of intestinal bacterial flora during antibacterial treatment using antibiotics in laminar-airflow rooms. In the patients without acute GVHD, the total decontaminations of intestinal flora were achieved on earlier days than in the patients with acute GVHD (p<0.01). Before BMT, the total decontaminations were achieved in four out of seven patients without GVHD and five out of 15 patients with GVHD. During gastrointestinal decontamination, gram-negative rods were isolated from only patients with GVHD, and gram-positive rods were isolated from patients without GVHD and with lower-grade GVHD.

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