Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
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Clin. Microbiol. Infect. · Mar 2019
Comparative StudyImpact of antibiotic administration on blood culture positivity at the beginning of sepsis: a prospective clinical cohort study.
Sepsis guidelines recommend obtaining blood cultures before starting anti-infective therapy in patients with sepsis. However, little is known of how antibiotic treatment before sampling affects bacterial growth. The aim of this study was to compare the results of blood cultures drawn before and during antibiotic therapy. ⋯ Obtaining blood cultures during antibiotic therapy is associated with a significant loss of pathogen detection. This strongly emphasizes the current recommendation to obtain blood cultures before antibiotic administration in patients with sepsis.
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Clin. Microbiol. Infect. · Mar 2019
Comparative StudyAre we missing respiratory viral infections in infants and children? Comparison of a hospital-based quality management system with standard of care.
Hospital-based surveillance of influenza and acute respiratory infections relies on International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes and hospital laboratory reports (Standard-of-Care). It is unclear how many cases are missed with either method, i.e. remain undiagnosed/coded as influenza and other respiratory virus infections. Various influenza-like illness (ILI) definitions co-exist with little guidance on how to use them. We compared the diagnostic accuracy of standard surveillance methods with a prospective quality management (QM) programme at a Berlin children's hospital with the Robert Koch Institute. ⋯ Disease-burden estimates and surveillance should account for the underreporting of cases in routine care. Future studies should explore the effect of ILI screening and surveillance in various age groups and settings. Diagnostic algorithms should be based on the WHO ILI case definition combined with targeted testing.
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Clin. Microbiol. Infect. · Mar 2019
Comparative StudyThe quality of antimicrobial discs from nine manufacturers-EUCAST evaluations in 2014 and 2017.
Antimicrobial discs for susceptibility testing can be obtained from many manufacturers. We evaluated the quality of discs from nine manufacturers in 2014 and 2017. ⋯ Antimicrobial discs from three of nine manufacturers exhibited excellent and reproducible quality. The discs of the other six manufacturers demonstrated various quality issues, some of which were severe. After presenting the results to manufacturers and users, all managed to improve the quality. Our study points to the need for more stringent criteria for disc manufacturing. Criteria should not only address the nominal potency of discs but also define the end result.