Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2002
Comparative StudyAntibiotic prescription rates vary markedly between 13 European countries.
There is a lack of data on antibiotic utilization in most European countries. In this study, information about the number of antibiotic prescriptions was obtained for Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK from the Institute for Medical Statistics Health Global Services in the UK. For Denmark and Sweden the information was obtained from the Danish Medicines Agency (Laegemiddelstyrelsen) and the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies (Apoteket AB), respectively. ⋯ In 1997, Greece (1,350), Spain (1,320) and Belgium (1,070) had the highest numbers of antibiotic prescriptions per 1,000 inhabitants in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system for drugs group J01 while The Netherlands (390), Sweden (460) and Austria (480) had the lowest. The most common antibiotic drug was extended-spectrum penicillin in 6/13 countries, macrolides in Austria, Finland, Germany and Italy, phenoxymethylpenicillin in Denmark and Sweden and cephalosporins in Greece. The variation in the number of antibiotic prescriptions per 1,000 inhabitants between the 13 European countries was substantial in terms of both total use and use of different antibiotics.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2002
Review Case ReportsRat-bite fever in children: case report and review.
We report 2 cases of rat-bite fever (RBF), a multisystem zoonosis, in children and review the literature. RBF is caused by I of 2 Gram-negative organisms: Streptobacillus moniliformis or, less commonly, Spirillum minus. ⋯ An additional 10 cases from a MEDLINE review (1960-2000) are reviewed. RBF must be included in the differential diagnosis of febrile patients with rashes and a history of exposure to rats.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2002
Case ReportsNeonatal nosocomial pneumococcal infections acquired by patient-to-patient transmission.
A case of neonatal nosocomial pneumococcal sepsis acquired by patient-to-patient transmission and confirmed by phenotypic and genotypic typing is documented. To the best of our knowledge this is the first documented case of neonatal nosocomial person-to-person transmission.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2002
Case ReportsSevere Legionella pneumophila pneumonia in a patient with iron overload.
Iron plays a crucial role in the energy metabolism of microorganisms. Humans have developed iron-withholding mechanisms as a form of non-specific immunity. We describe a patient with iron overload and severe Legionella pneumophila pneumonia. This report emphasizes the importance of early consideration of and appropriate therapy against Legionella for patients with iron overload who present with community-acquired pneumonia.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Jan 2002
Case ReportsSolitary parietal lobe histoplasmoma mimicking a brain tumor.
We describe a rare case of Histoplasma infection, which manifested only as a brain histoplasmoma, in a previously healthy woman who had no underlying predisposing conditions. Only a few cases of such intracranial histoplasmomas have been reported but this entity can mimic a brain neoplasm and should be a diagnostic consideration during the evaluation of ring-enhancing brain lesions.