São Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina
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Although the CAGE questionnaire is one of the most widely used alcohol screening instruments, it has been criticized for not identifying people who are drinking heavily or who have alcohol related problems but do not as yet show symptoms of alcohol dependence. The AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test) questionnaire was developed by WHO as a screening instrument specifically designed to identify problem drinkers, as well as those who were already dependent on alcohol. ⋯ Only by knowing the prevalence of alcohol abuse/dependence and nicotine dependence in a general hospital can we evaluate the need for a specialized liaison service to identify and treat these patients.
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The incidence of staphylococcal infection has been increasing during the last 20 years. ⋯ A 45-year-old-man, without addictions and without known previous cardiopathy, was diagnosed as having definitive acute bacterial endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus. Its etiology was community-acquired, arising from a non-apparent primary focus. In addition, the musculoskeletal symptoms preceded the infective endocarditis (IE) by about 1 month, which occurred together with other symptoms, e.g. mycotic aneurysms and petechiae. Later, the patient showed perforation of the mitral valve and moderate mitral insufficiency with clinical control.
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Cancer patients are at unusually high risk for developing bloodstream infections (BSI), which are a major cause of in-hospital morbidity and mortality. ⋯ The identification of the microbiology profile of BSI and the recognition of possible risk factors in high-risk cancer patients may help in planning and conducting more effective infection control and preventive measures, and may also allow further analytical studies for reducing severe infectious complications in such groups of patients.