Infection
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Comparative Study
Bloodstream infections in patients with solid tumors: associated factors, microbial spectrum and outcome.
Although patients with malignant diseases are at increased risk for bloodstream infections (BSIs), limited data are available for those with solid tumors. ⋯ BSIs in patients with solid tumors are frequently healthcare associated and in a large percentage the portal of entry can be identified. Neutropenia is not as common as in patients with hematologic malignancies. Inappropriate initial empirical antibiotic therapy and shock are clinical factors associated with worse outcomes.
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Comparative Study
Bloodstream infection-associated sepsis and septic shock in critically ill adults: a population-based study.
Few studies have investigated the epidemiology of sepsis and septic shock in a large population and none have been from Canada. The objective of this study was to define the epidemiology of bloodstream infection (BSI)-associated sepsis and septic shock among all critically ill patients in a large, fully integrated health region in Canada. ⋯ Knowledge of the epidemiology of these syndromes is important for assessing the burden of disease and providing background information for investigating new therapies.
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Infection by the influenza virus may pass undetected in many adult patients attended to in the emergency department because its diagnosis usually relies on clinical manifestations, which can be distorted by symptoms of a preexisting disease, superposed complications or nontypical manifestations of influenza virus infection (confusing symptoms). ⋯ Influenza virus infection has a great and underestimated impact in the emergency department during influenza epidemics. High frequency of confusing symptoms, which overcome classical influenza syndrome in adult people with comorbidity, may explain this effect. Disproportionate prostration and cough are symptoms that independently predict its diagnosis in the global adult population, whereas in the elderly, fever and cough should arouse this suspicion whether or not they present classic symptoms. In our setting, individuals with high comorbidity are inadequately vaccinated.