epiglucan and sultamicillin

β-D-glucan (BDG) is a helpful diagnostic marker for many invasive fungal infections, but not for nocardiosis. Here, we reported the first case of nocardial infection with high serum level of BDG.. A 73-year-old man was hospitalized because of fever, headache, and appetite loss after 10 months of steroid and immunosuppressive therapy for cryptogenic organizing pneumonia. With a diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia, treatment with ampicillin/sulbactam was initiated. There was improvement on chest radiograph, but fever persisted. Further work-up revealed multiple brain abscesses on cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Serum galactomannan and BDG were elevated at 0.6 index and 94.7 pg/ml, respectively. Voriconazole was initiated for presumed aspergillus brain abscess. However, fever persisted and consciousness level deteriorated. Drainage of brain abscess was performed; based on the Gram stain and Kinyoun acid-fast stain, disseminated nocardiosis was diagnosed. Voriconazole was then shifter to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. The presence of Nocardia farcinica was confirmed by the 16S rRNA gene sequence. Treatment course was continued; BDG level normalized after 1 month and cranial MRI showed almost complete improvement after 2 months.. BDG assay is widely used to diagnose invasive fungal infection; therefore, clinicians should be aware that Nocardia species may show cross-reactivity with BDG assay on serum.

Topics: Aged; Ampicillin; Anti-Infective Agents; beta-Glucans; Brain Abscess; Drainage; Humans; Male; Nocardia Infections; Sulbactam; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction between intravenous ampicillin-sulbactam treatment and (1,3)-beta-D-glucan (BDG) assay. Fifteen patients with a median age of 60 (16-81) without known risk factors for invasive fungal infections who received a daily dose of 3×2g ampicillin-sulbactam monotherapy from different batches were included in the study. Thirteen patients had soft tissue infections. The 5 of 13 patients who went under surgery had surgical dressings. Serum samples were obtained both before and after antibiotic infusion on the first, third, seventh and tenth days of an ampicillin-sulbactam treatment course. BDG was assayed using the Fungitell kit (Associates of Cape Cod, East Falmouth, MA, USA) according to manufacturers' specifications. All serum samples were also tested for galactomannan (GM) antigenemia by Platelia Aspergillus ELISA (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Marnes-la-Coquette, France). A total of 37 of 117 serum samples were positive for BDG at a threshold of 80pg ml(-1) . Seven of 37 BDG positive serum samples had a GM index ≥0.5. When a cutoff value of ≥0.5 was used for GM positivity, 16 (13.3%) serum samples were positive. For a cutoff value of ≥0.7, eight (6.6%) serum samples were positive. There were no statistically significant differences in the median BDG levels (P=0.47) or median GM indices (P =0.28) of the various sampling times. None of the SAM vials tested positive for BDG or GM. After ruling out fungal infections and all known potential causes of false BDG positivity, environmental contamination remained possible cause of BDG reactivity. We did not observe any significant association of ampicillin-sulbactam administration and positive assays for BDG or GM.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Ampicillin; Anti-Infective Agents; Antigens, Fungal; beta-Glucans; False Positive Reactions; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mycoses; Proteoglycans; Sulbactam; Young Adult