To further explore these issues, they conducted a study examining the 3-month outcomes of patients with a first episode of pneumococcal bacteremia. The study group included 63 adult patients with diabetes and 63 similar patients without diabetes.

During the first 30 days, 17 percent of nondiabetic patients died compared with just 11 percent of diabetics. At 3 months, the corresponding death rates were 20 percent and 16 percent.

After accounting for gender, age, and co-existing illnesses, diabetics were about 40 percent less likely to die than nondiabetics.

Patients with diabetes did not differ from the other patients in timing and choice of antibiotic drugs. Moreover, it did not appear that diabetics had been hospitalized at an earlier stage of infection.

Thomsen's group suggests that diabetics may fare better because their body defenses are altered in such a way that allows bacteria to get into the blood at a less severe stage of infection. Also, inflammation is generally weaker in diabetics, which may protect against certain lung problems.