Blood infections should be a concern for patients with diabetes. A Danish study indicated that patients with diabetes are at greater risk of blood infection caused by microbes called enterobacteria. In the current study, the researchers evaluated diabetes as a risk factor for enterobacterial blood infections in 1317 patients with blood infections and 13,170 individuals without infection.

The results of the study found that diabetes patients are 3 times more prone to develop blood infections, compared with patients without diabetes. Patients with diabetes under 65 years of age and those who were female were at increased risk. The research also showed that enterobacterial blood infections were more fatal in patients with diabetes, compared with patients without diabetes. (The findings were reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases, February 15, 2005.)