Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Mar 2013
Editorial CommentAntibiotics for sore throat patients--varied opinions.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Mar 2013
Severe sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome in emergency department patients with suspected severe infection.
Severe sepsis is a common condition with a reported high mortality, but most studies have been confined to intensive care unit (ICU) populations. The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) has been used to define sepsis, however its usefulness has been questioned. Our aim was to describe the prevalence and clinical impact of severe sepsis and SIRS in patients admitted from the emergency department (ED) with a suspected serious infection. ⋯ Severe sepsis was a common condition among ED patients with a clinically suspected serious infection. Mortality was low compared with results from the ICU setting, suggesting that severe sepsis is a more benign disease than earlier reported. As a tool for the definition of sepsis and for the selection of patients for clinical sepsis trials, SIRS lacks acceptable discriminative ability in an ED population with a high prevalence of serious infections.
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Scand. J. Infect. Dis. · Mar 2013
Clinical impact of inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy on outcome in bacteremic biliary tract infections.
The marked increase in the incidence of biliary tract infections due to antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in recent years is of great concern, as patients infected by these isolates might initially receive antibiotics ineffective against the responsible pathogens. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the administration of inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy might be associated with an adverse outcome in patients experiencing bacteremic biliary tract infections, and that the impact of inappropriate therapy on the outcome may be dependent on therapeutic drainage and appropriate definitive antimicrobial therapy.