Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2008
Review Case ReportsNosocomial post-traumatic cutaneous mucormycosis: a systematic review.
Mucormycosis is a rare, rapidly fatal opportunistic invasive fungal infection occurring in immunocompromised patients. Primary cutaneous mucormycosis usually follows direct inoculation of fungal spores at the site of damaged or traumatized skin. We report a case of fatal nosocomial post-traumatic cutaneous mucormycosis in a diabetic patient and we performed a systematic review of reported cases of nosocomial post-traumatic cutaneous mucormycosis to describe their demographic profile, predisposing factors, treatment and outcome.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2008
Comparative StudyComparing the pneumonia severity index with CURB-65 in patients admitted with community acquired pneumonia.
Pneumonia severity assessment systems such as the pneumonia severity index (PSI) and CURB-65 were designed to direct appropriate site of care based on 30-d mortality. Increasingly they are being used to guide empirical antibiotic therapy and also possibly to detect patients who will require admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients admitted to our institution with confirmed community acquired pneumonia (CAP) for the 12 months from January 2002. 408 episodes were studied with an overall 30-d mortality of 15.4% and ICU admission of 10.5%. ⋯ In addition, for the patients identified as 'low risk' by PSI (classes I/II), there was only 1 death and 1 admission to an ICU compared to 8 deaths and 7 ICU admissions with CURB-65 scores of 0-1. Although easier to use, CURB-65 is neither sensitive nor specific for predicting mortality in CAP patients. Neither rule was sufficiently accurate for predicting need for an ICU, even when patients with 'not for resuscitation' orders were excluded.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2008
Simkania negevensis in community-acquired pneumonia in Italian children.
Simkania negevensis, a recently found Chlamydia-like organism, has been associated with respiratory infections in children and adults with pneumonia, but S. negevensis findings have been common also without any infection. The aims of the present paper were to evaluate S. negevensis in the aetiology of paediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), its seroprevalence in north Italian children, and whether there is cross-reactivity between S. negevensis and Chlamydia pneumoniae serology. Antibodies to S. negevensis were measured by microimmunofluorescence (MIF) in 101 frozen paired sera obtained from children with CAP. ⋯ In total, 20-30% of the children had measurable antibodies to S. negevensis, with no association with age. No cross-reactivity was observed between antibodies to S. negevensis and C. pneumoniae. S. negevensis appears to be a real, though rare, cause of CAP in children.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2008
Case ReportsSuccessful treatment of meningoencephalitis caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with intravenous linezolid in an allogeneic cord blood stem cell transplant recipient.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an infectious pathogen that commonly occurs after stem cell transplantation. We report a case of meningoencephalitis with multiple abscess formation caused by MRSA, which occurred in a 62-y-old female soon after allogeneic cord blood transplantation, and which was successfully treated by the administration of intravenous linezolid.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2008
Case ReportsSevere tick-borne encephalitis in a patient previously infected by West Nile virus.
We describe severe tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in a patient who had previously experienced West Nile fever, another flavivirus infection endemic in Hungary. Previous West Nile virus infection does not develop immunity either against TBE virus infection or the disease, and it does not mitigate its clinical course. The possibility of antibody-dependent enhancement is considered.