Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis

-complication of ascites, diagnosed by ascitic fluid examination which revealed a neutrophil count of  > 250 cells/ml
- should be suspected in any ascitic patient who clinically deteriorate, fever and pain can be absent
- abdominal tenderness in more than 50% SBP
- speculated that the infective organism may leak into ascitic fluid via blood or from intestinal overgrowth
- typically caused by aerobic gram negative organism (50% being E.coli)
- treatment : cefotaxime