Archive for May, 2009
Development and assessment of a new early scoring system using non-specific clinical signs and biological results to identify children and adult patients with a high probability of infective endocarditis on admission
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy December 2008 V.62 N.6 p.1434-1440
Hervé Richet1, Jean-Paul Casalta1, Franck Thuny2, Julien Mérrien1, Jean-Robert Harlé3, Pierre-Jean Weiller4, Gilbert Habib2 and Didier Raoult1,*
1 Unité des Rickettsies, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France 2 Department of Cardiology, Hôpital de la Timone, 264 rue Saint Pierre, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France 3 Service of Internal Medicine, Hôpital de la Conception, 147 Boulevard Baille, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France 4 Service of Internal Medicine, Hôpital de la Timone, 264 rue Saint Pierre, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess whether non-specific clinical signs or biological results can identify patients with a high probability of infective endocarditis (IE) to improve outcome.
Patients and methods: All patients tested for IE were included in a cohort and classified according to the modified Duke criteria. Patients with rejected endocarditis served as controls. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed, and a score was calculated by adding 1 when a variable independently associated with IE (excluding major Duke criteria) was present and 0 when the variable was absent. A second score for patients with prior valvular damage (PVD) was also used. Scores were evaluated using the ROC curve method.
Results: IE was diagnosed in 402 of 2039 participants (19.7%). By multivariate analysis, PVD, fever, emboli, stroke, splenomegaly, finger clubbing, leucocytosis and erythrocyte sediment rate >50 were independently associated with IE. The rate of IE increased significantly from 4% (10/254) for a score of 0 to 83% (10/12) for a score of 6 in all patients, and from 9.5% (23/241) to 100% (10/10) in patients with PVD. The area under the ROC curve was 0.75 for the first score and 0.7 for the second. In a prospective study of 117 patients with suspicion of IE, the proportion of confirmed IE was 19% and the area under the ROC curve was 0.72.
Conclusions: This simple score can be used to identify patients with a high probability of IE, in the emergency room or on admission, to speed up diagnosis, or to initiate empirical antimicrobial therapy without replacing the modified Duke criteria.
abstract
http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/62/6/1434
Add comment May 30, 2009
Acute HIV-1 infection
NEJM Apr.9, 2009 V.360 N.15 p.1540-8
Case: A 47-Year-Old Man with Fever, Headache, Rash, and Vomiting
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/360/15/1540.pdf
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Add comment May 30, 2009
Development of antiviral agents for enteroviruses
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy December 2008 V.62 N.6 p.1169-1173
Tzu-Chun Chen1,2,3, Kuo-Feng Weng1,2, Shih-Cheng Chang1,2, Jing-Yi Lin1,2, Peng-Nien Huang1,2 and Shin-Ru Shih1,2,4,5,*
1 Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan 2 Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan 3 Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 4 Clinical Virology Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan 5 Division of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research, National Health Research Institutes, Chunan, Taiwan
Enteroviruses (EVs) are common human pathogens that are associated with numerous disease symptoms in many organ systems of the body. Although EV infections commonly cause mild or non-symptomatic illness, some of them are associated with severe diseases such as CNS complications. The current absence of effective vaccines for most viral infection and no available antiviral drugs for the treatment of EVs highlight the urgency and significance of developing antiviral agents. Several key steps in the viral life cycle are potential targets for blocking viral replication. This article reviews recent studies of antiviral developments for EVs based on various molecular targets that interrupt viral attachment, viral translation, polyprotein processing and RNA replication.
FREE Full Text
http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/62/6/1169
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Add comment May 27, 2009
Community Strains of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus as Potential Cause of Healthcare-associated Infections, Uruguay, 2002–2004
Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal August 2008 V.14 N.8
Stephen R. Benoit,* Concepción Estivariz,* Cristina Mogdasy,† Walter Pedreira,‡ Antonio Galiana,‡ Alvaro Galiana,§ Homero Bagnulo,‡ Rachel Gorwitz,* Gregory E. Fosheim,* Linda K. McDougal,* and Daniel Jernigan*
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; †Asociación Española, Montevideo, Uruguay; ‡Hospital Maciel, Montevideo; and §Hospital Pereira Rossell, Montevideo
Abstract
Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) strains have emerged in Uruguay. We reviewed Staphylococcus aureus isolates from a large healthcare facility in Montevideo (center A) and obtained information from 3 additional hospitals on patients infected with CA-MRSA. An infection was defined as healthcare-onset if the culture was obtained >48 hours after hospital admission. At center A, the proportion of S. aureus infections caused by CA-MRSA increased from 4% to 23% over 2 years; the proportion caused by healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) decreased from 25% to 5%. Of 182 patients infected with CA-MRSA, 38 (21%) had healthcare-onset infections. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis determined that 22 (92%) of 24 isolates were USA1100, a community strain. CA-MRSA has emerged in Uruguay and appears to have replaced HA-MRSA strains at 1 healthcare facility. In addition, CA-MRSA appears to cause healthcare-onset infections, a finding that emphasizes the need for infection control measures to prevent transmission within healthcare settings.
Full Text
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/8/1216.htm?s_cid=eid1216_e
Add comment May 27, 2009
Influenza in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection.
Chest July 1, 1990 V.98 N.1 p.33-37
S Safrin, J D Rush, and J Mills
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Although patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) might be expected to have more severe illness due to influenza virus infection than normal persons, the course of influenza in such patients has not been well delineated. We describe six consecutive HIV-infected patients at San Francisco General Hospital in whom influenza virus was isolated from induced sputum or bronchoalveolar lavage specimens between December 1988 and March 1989. Although neither clinical presentation of influenza nor rate of secondary complications appeared to be altered from that in healthy individuals, our power of comparison was limited by small sample size. However, a high prevalence of hypoxemia and a trend toward prolonged duration of illness were identified. Larger, controlled studies are needed to define the course of influenza virus infection in HIV-infected patients as compared with nonimmunosuppressed patients.
abstract
http://www.chestjournal.org/content/98/1/33.abstract
http://www.chestjournal.org/content/98/1/33.full.pdf+html
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Add comment May 26, 2009
Daptomycin versus vancomycin plus gentamicin for treatment of bacteraemia and endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus: subset analysis of patients infected with methicillin-resistant isolates
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy December 2008 V.62 N.6 p.1413-1421
Susan J. Rehm1,*, Helen Boucher2, Donald Levine3, Marilyn Campion4, Barry I. Eisenstein5,6, Gloria A. Vigliani4, G.Ralph Corey7 and Elias Abrutyn8,
1 Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA 2 Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA 3 Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA 4 Consultants, Newton, MA, USA 5 Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Lexington, MA, USA 6 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 7 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA 8 Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Objectives: In a prospective, randomized trial, daptomycin was non-inferior to standard therapy for Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and right-sided endocarditis. Since rates of infection due to methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infection are increasing and treatment outcomes for bacteraemia caused by MRSA are generally worse than those observed with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteraemia, clinical characteristics and treatment results in the trial’s pre-specified subset of patients with MRSA were analysed.
Methods: Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients receiving daptomycin were compared with those receiving vancomycin plus low-dose gentamicin. Success was defined as clinical improvement with clearance of bacteraemia among patients who completed adequate therapy, received no potentially effective non-study antibiotics and had negative blood cultures 6 weeks after end of therapy.
Results: Twenty of the 45 (44.4%) daptomycin patients and 14 of the 43 (32.6%) vancomycin/gentamicin patients were successfully treated (difference 11.9%; confidence interval –8.3 to 32.1). Success rates for daptomycin versus vancomycin/gentamicin were 45% versus 27% in complicated bacteraemia, 60% versus 45% in uncomplicated bacteraemia and 50% versus 50% in right-sided MRSA endocarditis. Cure rates in patients with septic emboli and in patients who received pre-enrolment vancomycin were similar between treatment groups. However, in both treatment groups, success rates were lower in the elderly (75 years). Persisting or relapsing bacteraemia occurred in 27% of daptomycin and 21% of vancomycin/gentamicin patients; among these patients, MICs of 2 mg/L occurred in five daptomycin and four vancomycin/gentamicin patients. The clinical course of several patients may have been influenced by lack of surgical intervention.
Conclusions: Daptomycin was an effective alternative to vancomycin/gentamicin for MRSA bacteraemia or right-sided endocarditis.
abstract
http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/62/6/1413
Add comment May 26, 2009
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and animals: zoonosis or humanosis?
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy December 2008 V.62 N.6 p.1181-1187
Reviews
Marina Morgan*
Department of Medical Microbiology, Royal Devon & Exeter Foundation NHS Trust, Church Lane, Exeter, Devon EX2 5AD, UK
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is increasing worldwide. Occasionally, animals are colonized or infected incidentally with human strains. Recently, however, new strains of MRSA emerging from within the animal kingdom, particularly in pigs, are causing human infection. MRSA has been reported in species as diverse as companion animals, horses and pigs, through to chinchillas, bats and parrots. In contrast, whereas strains of community-associated MRSA, the majority of which carry genes encoding Panton–Valentine leucocidin, are spreading rapidly in human populations, only sporadic cases have been reported in animals to date. Although MRSA has been found in some meat products, the implications for human infection through consumption are unclear. This review examines the epidemiology of MRSA in animals and human attendants/owners, the diagnosis and management of MRSA colonization, infection and infection control strategies in animals.
abstract
http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/62/6/1181
Add comment May 26, 2009
Workshop on Issues in the Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials of Antibacterial Drugs in the Treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Clinical Infectious Diseases 1 December 2008 V.47 N.s3
Indice
- Executive Summary: Workshop on Issues in the Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials of Antibacterial Drugs in the Treatment of Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Issues in Noninferiority Trials: The Evidence in Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Scenario 1: A Patient with Mild Community-Acquired Pneumonia—Introduction to Clinical Trial Design Issues
- Molecular Diagnostics for Detection of Bacterial and Viral Pathogens in Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Biological Markers to Determine Eligibility in Trials for Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Focus on Procalcitonin
- The Pneumonia Severity Index: A Decade after the Initial Derivation and Validation
- Clinical End Points of Therapy for Patients with Mild Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Placebo-Controlled Trials of Treatments for Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Review of the Literature and Discussion of Feasibility and Potential Value
- Overview of Recent Studies of Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- What Can We Learn from the Time Course of Untreated and Partially Treated Community-Onset Streptococcus pneumoniae Pneumonia? A Clinical Perspective on Superiority and Noninferiority Trial Designs for Mild Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Clinical Trial Design for Mild-to-Moderate Community-Acquired Pneumonia—An Industry Perspective
- Clinical Trial Design and Selected Drug Safety Issues for Antibiotics Used to Treat Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Efficacy as an Important Facet of “Safety” in Clinical Trials: How Can We Do Our Best for Our Patients?
- Scenario 2: Community-Acquired Pneumonia Requiring Hospitalization but Not Requiring Admission to an Intensive Care Unit
- Spectrum of Microbial Etiology of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Hospitalized Patients: Implications for Selection of the Population for Enrollment in Clinical Trials
- Initial Antibiotic Selection and Patient Outcomes: Observations from the National Pneumonia Project
- Novel Approaches to the Identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae as the Cause of Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Is It Possible to Blind a Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia?
- Use of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics in a Failure Analysis of Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Implications for Future Clinical Trial Study Design
- Is Activity against “Atypical” Pathogens Necessary in the Treatment Protocols for Community-Acquired Pneumonia? Issues with Combination Therapy
- Clinical Trial Design and Consequences for Drug Development for Community-Acquired Pneumonia: An Industry Perspective
- Unique Considerations in the Evaluation of Antibacterials in Clinical Trials for Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia
- Position Paper: Recommended Design Features of Future Clinical Trials of Antibacterial Agents for Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Solo abstracts
Add comment May 23, 2009
El laboratorio en el diagnóstico de Dengue y otros Flavivirus
IACA Laboratorios Bahía Blanca – Argentina
por Dr. Ariel Suárez / Dpto. de Biología Molecular
Nota completa
http://www.iaca.com.ar/mayo09/Dengue.pdf
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Add comment May 23, 2009
Surveillance for Acute Viral Hepatitis – United States, 2007
MMWR Surveillance Summaries May 22, 2009 V.58 N.SS-3 p.1-27
Danni Daniels, MS, Scott Grytdal, MPH, Annemarie Wasley, ScD
Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC
This report presents data on cases of hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus for 2007, the most recent year for which data are available. Acute hepatitis A incidence has declined 92%, from 12.0 cases per 100,000 population in 1995 to 1.0 case per 100,000 population in 2007, the lowest rate ever recorded. Declines were greatest among children and in those states where routine vaccination of children was recommended beginning in 1999. Acute hepatitis B incidence has declined 82%, from 8.5 cases per 100,000 population in 1990 to 1.5 cases per 100,000 population in 2007, the lowest rate ever recorded. Declines occurred among all age groups but were greatest among children aged <15 years. Following a peak in 1992, incidence of acute hepatitis C declined; however, since 2003, rates have plateaued. In 2007, as in previous years, the majority of these cases occurred among adults, and injection-drug use was the most common risk factor.
Full Text
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5803a1.htm?s_cid=ss5803a1_e
PDF (32 pag)
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5803.pdf
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Add comment May 22, 2009
