Infectious diseases (London, England)
-
Numerous investigations on procalcitonin (PCT) have been carried out, although few with large sample size. To deal with the complexity of sepsis, an understanding of PCT in heterogeneous clinical conditions is required. ⋯ PCT could be used in clinical algorithms to diagnose positive infections and sepsis. Different PCT levels could be related to different kinds of microbemia, different infection sites, and differing severity of sepsis.
-
Observational Study
Neutrophil CD64 expression is not a useful biomarker for detecting serious bacterial infections in febrile children at the emergency department.
CD64 is expressed on the surface membrane of neutrophils (nCD64) in the presence of bacterial infection. Although initial studies in intensive care settings have been promising, only two small, methodologically flawed studies have been performed in feverish children presenting to the emergency department (ED), both of which were showing a moderate diagnostic value of nCD64 to detect a serious bacterial infection (SBI). This study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of nCD64 in children presenting with fever to the ED for detecting SBI. ⋯ NCD64 expression has poor discriminative value to detect children with an SBI in a general population of febrile children at the ED. It has no superior value compared to CRP in this setting, neither in total nor in sub-populations.
-
A notable portion of deaths in bloodstream infections (BSI) have previously been shown to occur within 2 days after taking the first positive blood culture specimen. The aim of this study was to analyse patients' characteristics and causative pathogens of BSIs, leading to early deaths in order to explore possibilities for prevention. Patients with BSI in Helsinki and Uusimaa region (population = 1.5 million) in 2007 were identified from the National Infectious Disease Register (n = 2181) and their deaths within 2 days after the first positive blood culture from the Population Information System (n = 76). ⋯ S. pneumoniae accounted for one third of CA-BSIs, highlighting the potential role of pneumococcal vaccines in prevention. Early recognition of BSI and its origin (CA-BSI vs HA-BSI) is crucial. Continuous surveillance data on causative microbes and resistance trends in hospitals is needed to propose guidelines for empiric antimicrobial therapy of BSIs.
-
The incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) before and after the introduction of selective oral decontamination (SOD) only and selective digestive tract decontamination (SDD) in a general intensive care population was examined. SOD as standard of care was introduced in December 2010 and SDD, including SOD, in January 2012 for all patients with an expected length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay of at least 48 h. ⋯ The incidence of VAP per 1000 ventilator days declined significantly from 4.38 ± 1.64 before to 1.64 ± 0.43 after introduction of SOD/SDD (p = 0.007). Implementation of SOD/SDD as standard of care in ICUs may thus be effective in preventing VAP.
-
In this incidence study, of 16 074 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from 1/1/2003 to 7/31/2011, 161 cases of candidemia were identified. The incidence of sepsis (27%), severe sepsis (31%), and septic shock (40%) was remarkably high in these cases of candidemia, as was the all-cause in-hospital mortality for sepsis (30%), severe sepsis (44%), and septic shock (65%).