Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
-
Clin. Microbiol. Infect. · Jun 2009
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyMultiplex real-time PCR and blood culture for identification of bloodstream pathogens in patients with suspected sepsis.
Severe sepsis is increasingly a cause of death. Rapid and correct initial antimicrobial treatment reduces mortality. The aetiological agent(s) cannot always be found in blood cultures (BCs). ⋯ Of the 174 clinically relevant microorganisms identified with SeptiFast, 50 (29%) were detected by BC. More than half of the remaining microorganisms identified with SeptiFast (but not isolated after BC) were also found in routine cultures of other relevant samples taken from the patients. Future clinical studies should assess whether the use of SeptiFast is of significant advantage in the detection of bloodstream pathogens.
-
Clin. Microbiol. Infect. · Jun 2009
Multicenter StudyClinical significance of the detection of Candida albicans germ tube-specific antibodies in critically ill patients.
The present study, comprising a prospective multicentre study including 53 non-neutropenic patients from intensive care units (ICU) in six Spanish tertiary-care hospitals, was carried out to determine the clinical significance and influence on mortality of Candida albicans germ tube-specific antibodies (CAGTA). There were 22 patients (41.5%) for whom the CAGTA results were positive, although none of had a blood culture positive for Candida. The intra-ICU mortality rate was significantly lower (p = 0.004) in CAGTA-positive patients (61.2% vs. 22.7%). Multivariate analysis confirmed that a positive CAGTA result was the only protective factor to be independently associated with ICU mortality (beta coefficient = -0.3856; 95% confidence interval = -0.648 to -0.123).