What are some differences between primary and secondary bacterial peritonitis?
Primary bacterial peritonitis (also known as spontaneous bacterial peritonitis) occurs without a known source of infection, particularly in patients with decompensated cirrhosis, and is usually monobacterial in nature. Secondary bacterial peritonitis is due to loss of integrity of the gastrointestinal or genitourinary tract with associated infection of the peritoneal space and is usually polymicrobial in etiology.