International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Apr 2012
Ultrasonographic evaluation of knee joints in patients with Lyme disease.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the ultrasonographic images of patients with chronic knee pain and serologic features of Lyme disease. ⋯ Ultrasonography may be useful in following the sequelae of Lyme disease. The abnormalities found in Lyme disease patients are non-specific and ultrasonography is not useful in the differential diagnosis.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Mar 2012
Microbiology and surgical indicators of necrotizing fasciitis in a tertiary hospital of southwest Taiwan.
Necrotizing fasciitis is a true surgical emergency. This study was undertaken to determine whether clinical indicators could be used to initiate early surgery, and to compare the characteristics observed on initial examination of necrotizing fasciitis in patients who died and those who survived. ⋯ Hypotensive shock, severe hypoalbuminemia, and increased counts of banded leukocytes can be considered the clinical and laboratory risk indicators to initiate early surgery and to predict mortality for all types of necrotizing fasciitis. The clinical characteristics of Gram-negative infections were more fulminant than those of Gram-positive infections.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Mar 2012
Multicenter StudyImpact of a national hospital evaluation program using clinical performance indicators on the use of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in Korea.
Clinical performance measurement in surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) was implemented as part of a national hospital evaluation program (NHEP) in Korea in 2007. This study investigated changes in SAP quality before and after the implementation of clinical performance measurement. ⋯ Hospital evaluation using clinical performance indicators can considerably improve the use of SAP. Further studies are warranted to investigate whether this hospital evaluation will decrease the development of SSIs.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Mar 2012
hsp65 PCR-restriction analysis (PRA) with capillary electrophoresis for species identification and differentiation of Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium chelonae-Mycobacterium abscessus group.
The aim of the present study was to identify and differentiate Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium chelonae-Mycobacterium abscessus group strains isolated from clinical and environmental sources in different countries. ⋯ PRA based on automated capillary electrophoresis is a rapid, simple, and reliable method for the identification and differentiation of both clinically relevant and environmental isolates of M. kansasii and M. chelonae-M. abscessus group.
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Int. J. Infect. Dis. · Dec 2011
Galactomannan detection in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematological diseases-the role of factors affecting assay performance.
We evaluated the performance of a galactomannan (GM) assay in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid compared to serum samples for the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in patients with hematological diseases. ⋯ In contrast to recently published data, we found only moderate sensitivity, but high specificity and high positive predictive value of the detection of GM in BAL fluid. In addition, neutropenia, antifungal therapy, and BAL standardization affected GM assay performance.