Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases最新文献

Cancer patients tend to have a higher incidence of herpes zoster (HZ), but little is known about their risk of HZ complications. We conducted a retrospective study of 424 newly diagnosed hematologic (HM, n = 140) and solid tumor malignancy (STM, n = 284) patients who developed HZ between January 2001 and December 2006 to measure the frequency and identify risk factors of HZ complications. Patients were adult members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California. HZ diagnosis and complications were confirmed by medical chart review. HM patients with HZ tended to have more HZ complications than STM patients (34% vs 23%, p = 0.02), largely due to more frequent non-pain complications. On multivariate analysis, older age and being male were associated with a higher risk of HZ complications in HM patients; more advanced cancer stage was associated with HZ complications in STM patients. HZ complications are frequent and can present extra disease burden in cancer patients who develop HZ.

Background: Day care attendance and antibiotic consumption are major risk factors for carriage of antibiotic-susceptible and non-susceptible pneumococci. We describe the nasopharyngeal carriage of antibiotic-susceptible and non-susceptible pneumococci among children at day care centres (DCCs), analyse the association of potential risk factors with carriage, and examine the effects of a hygiene intervention on carriage.

Methods: Thirty DCCs in 2 communities were included in a cohort intervention trial. Nasopharyngeal cultures and information on the children were obtained every 6 months. The study lasted 2.5 y and the hygiene intervention was introduced at half of the DCCs during the last 1.5 y of the study. The results were analysed using a mixed effects logistic regression model.

Results: A total of 5663 cultures were obtained from 2399 children, of which 55.6% grew pneumococci. Of the pneumococci, 27.9% were penicillin-non-susceptible (PNSP). The hygiene intervention was associated with a decreased risk of pneumococcal carriage, but this did not reach statistical significance for PNSP carriage. Pneumococcal and PNSP carriage was negatively associated with age, varied significantly between DCCs, and was positively associated with the number of preceding colds. Individual antibiotic use (mainly penicillin/amoxicillin) at the time of sampling and/or during the preceding month was associated with a decreased risk of pneumococcal and PNSP carriage. Individual use of cephalosporins was associated with an increased risk of carriage of penicillin and TMP-SMX-non-susceptible pneumococci.

Conclusion: The hygiene intervention at the DCCs reduced the risk of pneumococcal carriage and the individual use of antibiotics was found to affect carriage in a complex manner.

Background: The Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Denmark are neighbouring Nordic countries with great ethnic, cultural, and political similarities and are relatively homogeneous. Important information about prescribing practices can be obtained by comparing the antibacterial use in these countries. The objective was to describe, compare, and analyse the use of systemic antibacterial agents in these countries during the y 1999-2011.

Methods: Data were obtained from the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Denmark on systemic antibacterial use and expressed in defined daily dosages (DDD). Prescription data were also obtained for specific age groups.

Results: The total antibacterial use for the y 1999-2011 varied markedly between the 3 countries, with a mean use of 21.8 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day (DID) in Iceland, 17.7 in the Faroe Islands, and 16.3 in Denmark. The total use remained fairly constant over the years in the Faroe Islands and Iceland, whereas in Denmark it increased gradually from 13.5 DID in 1999 to 19.5 DID in 2011. The higher use in Iceland can be explained by much higher consumption of tetracyclines. There was also considerable variation in the use of individual penicillins and macrolides between the countries.

Conclusions: Despite the great ethnic and cultural similarities of these 3 countries, we found marked differences in total antibacterial use and important differences in the use of individual antibacterials.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, SCCmec types, presence of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene, and susceptibility to antibiotics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from hospitalized children.

Methods: From August 2009 to September 2011, 291 S. aureus strains were isolated from normally sterile body sites, of which 190 (65%) were MRSA. One hundred and two of the MRSA strains were genetically evaluated. SCCmec genotypes were identified by M-PCR and the PVL gene (pvl) by end-point PCR. Resistance to erythromycin, rifampicin, clindamycin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) was assessed by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method in accordance with the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines of 2012.

Results: Of the 102 strains evaluated, 97 (95%) were SCCmec type II, 5 (5%) were SCCmec type IVa, and all (100%) were pvl-negative. Resistance to erythromycin, clindamycin, rifampicin, and SXT was 97%, 95%, 0%, and 0%, respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence of hospital-acquired MRSA was high. SCCmec type II was predominant and the pvl gene appeared not to play any role in the virulence of the MRSA strains from hospitalized children.

Background: The pathogenesis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection involves cytoadherence of M. pneumoniae to the ciliated respiratory epithelium (CRE), followed by CRE injury caused by the M. pneumoniae. However, whether CRE abnormalities are related to the severity of M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MP) remains to be determined.

Methods: Thirty-eight patients with MP and 8 controls who underwent fiber-optic bronchoscopy with bronchial biopsy were included in this study. Patients with MP were divided into 2 groups: a mild disease group (12 patients) and a severe disease group (26 patients). The clinical features, laboratory findings, chest radiographic findings, and CRE abnormalities were characterized.

Results: Patients with severe pneumonia had a higher epithelial integrity score than those with mild pneumonia (5.1 ± 0.76 vs 3.8 ± 0.75; p < 0.01). Patients with severe CRE abnormalities had a longer duration of fever (p < 0.01), higher C-reactive protein (p < 0.01), and lower proportion of blood lymphocytes (p < 0.05) compared to those with mild abnormalities. Patients with a positive bacteria culture had a higher epithelial integrity score compared to those with a negative culture (6.0 ± 0.44 vs 4.8 ± 0.71; p < 0.01).

Conclusions: CRE abnormalities are closely related to the severity of MP. These findings extend our current knowledge of MP.

Background: Travel health advice is an important and difficult part of a pre-travel consultation. The aim of this study was to determine whether the travel health advice given is followed by the traveller and whether it affects disease and injury experienced during travel.

Methods: A prospective survey study was carried out from October 2009 to April 2012 at the Travel Medicine Clinic of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Umeå University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden. The Travel Medicine Clinic in Umeå is the largest travel clinic in northern Sweden.

Results: We included 1277 individuals in the study; 1059 (83%) responded to the post-travel questionnaire. Most visitors (88%) remembered having received travel health advice; among these, 95% found some of the health advice useful. Two-thirds (67%) claimed to have followed the advice, but fell ill during travel to the same extent as those who did not. Younger travellers (< 31 y) found our travel health advice less beneficial, were less compliant with the advice, took more risks during travel, and fell ill during travel to a greater extent than older travellers.

Conclusions: Helping travellers stay healthy during travel is the main goal of travel medicine. Younger travellers are a risk group for illness during travel and there is a need to find new methods to help them avoid illness. Travellers find travel health advice useful, but it does not protect them from travel-related illness. Factors not easily influenced by the traveller play a role, but a comprehensive analysis of the benefits of travel health advice is needed.

We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine the prevalence of faecal carriage of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae in patients with gastroenteritis. During April 2011, all faecal samples submitted to our hospital laboratory were examined for ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Isolates expressing an ESBL phenotype were investigated for the presence of genes encoding broad-spectrum beta-lactamases, ESBLs, carbapenemases, and plasmid-mediated AmpC. Information on age, gender, and travel history was extracted from the laboratory records. In total 273 faecal samples were included. The overall carrier rate in the study population was 15.8%. The ESBL carrier rate among patients with no history of recent travel, or where this information was missing, was 10.3%. In contrast, the carrier rate was 56.3% (odds ratio 16.3, p < 0.001) among patients with a record of travel to Asia. Two ESBL-producing isolates were identified as enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. Co-resistance between third-generation cephalosporins, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and fluoroquinolones was seen in 49% of isolates. No carbapenemase-producers were found.

Prophylaxis and treatment with antiretroviral drugs and elective caesarean section delivery have resulted in very low mother-to-child transmission of HIV during recent years. Updated general treatment guidelines and increasing knowledge about mother-to-child transmission have necessitated regular revisions of the recommendations for the prophylaxis and treatment of HIV-1 infection in pregnancy. The Swedish Reference Group for Antiviral Therapy (RAV) updated the recommendations from 2010 at an expert meeting on 11 September 2013. The most important revisions are the following: (1) ongoing efficient treatment at confirmed pregnancy may, with a few exceptions, be continued; (2) if treatment is initiated during pregnancy, the recommended first-line therapy is essentially the same as for non-pregnant women; (3) raltegravir may be added to achieve rapid reduction in HIV RNA; (4) vaginal delivery is recommended if at > 34 gestational weeks and HIV RNA is < 50 copies/ml and no obstetric contraindications exist; (5) if HIV RNA is < 50 copies/ml and delivery is at > 34 gestational weeks, intravenous zidovudine is not recommended regardless of the delivery mode; (6) if HIV RNA is > 50 copies/ml close to delivery, it is recommended that the mother should undergo a planned caesarean section, intravenous zidovudine, and oral nevirapine, and the infant should receive single-dose nevirapine at 48-72 h of age and post-exposure prophylaxis with 2 drugs; (7) if delivery is preterm at < 34 gestational weeks, a caesarean section delivery should if possible be performed, with intravenous zidovudine and oral nevirapine given to the mother, and single-dose nevirapine given to the infant at 48-72 h of age, as well as post-exposure prophylaxis with 2 additional drugs.