exudates and Pharyngitis

Acute pharyngitis (AP) is a common reason for private primary care consultations, thus providing an avenue for widespread antibiotic intake among the community. However, there is limited data on the antibiotic prescription appropriateness and resistance information in the Malaysian private primary care setting, therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of isolated viruses and bacteria, antibiotic resistance patterns, antibiotic prescription patterns and appropriateness by general practitioners (GPs) and factors affecting antibiotic resistance and antibiotic prescription patterns. To investigate, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 205 patients presenting with AP symptoms at private primary care clinics in central Malaysia from 3rd January 2016 to 30th November 2016. Throat swabs were collected from 205 AP patients for two purposes: (i) the detection of four common respiratory viruses associated with AP via reverse-transcription real-time PCR (qRT-PCR); and (ii) bacterial identification using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Bacterial isolates were then subjected to antibiotic susceptibility screening and McIsaac scoring was calculated post-prescription based on GP selection of criteria. Generalized estimating equations analysis with multiple logistic regression was conducted to identify factors associated with presence of virus and antibiotic prescription. The results showed that 95.1% (195/205) of patients had at least one of the four viruses, with rhinovirus (88.5%) being the most prevalent, followed by adenovirus (74.9%), influenza A virus (4.6%) and enterovirus (2.1%). A total of 862 non-repetitive colonies were isolated from the culture of throat swabs from 205 patients who were positive for bacteria. From a total of 22 genera, Streptococcus constitutes the most prevalent bacteria genus (40.9%), followed by Neisseria (20%), Rothia (13.0%), Staphylococcus (11%) and Klebsiella (4.9%). Only 5 patients carried group A beta-hemolytic streptococci (GABHS). We also report the presence of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus or VRSA (n = 9, 10.1%) among which one isolate is a multidrug-resistant methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MDR-MRSA), while 54.1% (n = 111) were found to carry at least one antibiotic-resistant bacteria species. Application of the McIsaac scoring system indicated that 87.8% (n = 180) of patients should not be prescribed antibiotics as the majority of AP patients

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacteria; Cross-Sectional Studies; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Humans; Malaysia; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Pharyngitis; Prescriptions; Primary Health Care; Streptococcus; Viruses

COVID-19 is a highly transmissible respiratory virus that has affected millions of people worldwide in the span of months. The burden of disease among healthcare workers (HCW) has not been well studied despite reports of infectivity and transmission around the world. Two HCW in Hospital Teluk Intan (HTI) contracted COVID-19 while attending a social event. They were in close proximity with colleagues upon returning to work, resulting in the spread of infection among other HCW in HTI.. The objectives of this paper are to gain a better understanding of the key presenting symptoms of COVID-19 in HCWs in a district specialist hospital, to establish the proportion of symptomatic COVID-19 cases among HCWs and its severity and to determine the time taken from onset of symptoms or perceived exposure to diagnostic testing.. This is a retrospective descriptive analysis of clinical characteristics of subjects infected with COVID-19 among HCW in HTI. Their demography and clinical characteristics were recorded.. There were 47 HCW in HTI who tested positive for COVID-19. The mean age of the patients was 37.5 years old. 7 patients (15.2%) had at least more than one comorbidity. Average duration of time from perceived close contact to onset of symptom was 4.5 days, while the mean duration of time from symptoms to first positive RT-PCR result was 3.4 days. Six patients (13.0%) were asymptomatic throughout, whereas 40 (87.0%) had at least one symptom prior to hospitalization. The most commonly reported symptoms were fever (65.2%), sore throat (39.1%) and cough (37.0%). In terms of severity of symptoms, the majority of patients experienced mild symptoms (Group 2, 52.2%). Two patients (4.3%) with multiple comorbidities had severe disease requiring ICU admission and mechanical ventilation. There were no mortalities, and the longest staying patient was hospitalized for 18 days. The high rates of infectivity among HCW in HTI can be attributed to working in close proximity while in the asymptomatic incubation phase, while no HCW directly involved in the care of COVID-19 positive patients were tested positive.. We report that HCW share similar clinical characteristics of COVID-19 infection as those of non HCW patients in earlier studies. The infection can spread rapidly within healthcare settings via close contacts among infected HCWs. As such, we advocate distancing when working and usage of personal protective equipment when treating patients with respiratory illness to reduce transmission of COVID-19.

Topics: Adult; Asymptomatic Infections; Comorbidity; Cough; COVID-19; COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing; Critical Care; Female; Fever; Hospitals, District; Humans; Length of Stay; Malaysia; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Exposure; Patient Acuity; Personnel, Hospital; Pharyngitis; Prodromal Symptoms; Retrospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Time Factors

Sore throats may be due to either viral or group A beta hemolytic streptococcus (GABHS) infections; but diagnosis of the etiology of a sore throat is difficult, often leading to unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and consequent increases in bacterial resistance. Scoring symptoms using the McIsaac clinical decision rule can help physicians to diagnose and manage streptococcal infections leading to sore throat and have been recommended by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. In this paper, we offer the first assessment of the effectiveness of the McIsaac rule in a clinical setting in Malaysia.. This study is a retrospective review of 116 pediatric patients presenting with sore throat. Group A comprised patients before the implementation of the McIsaac rule and Group B comprised patients after the implementation.. Unnecessary throat swab cultures were reduced by 40% (P = 0.003). Redundant antibiotic prescriptions were reduced by 26.5% (P = 0.003) and the overall use of antibiotics was reduced by 22.1% (P = 0.003). The pediatricians' compliance rate to McIsaac rule criteria was 45% before implementation of the McIsaac rule, but improved to 67.9% (P = 0.0005) after implementation.. The McIsaac rule is an effective tool for the management of sore throat in children in Malaysia.

Topics: Algorithms; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Child, Preschool; Decision Making; Decision Support Systems, Clinical; Female; Hospitals; Hospitals, Pediatric; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Pharyngitis; Retrospective Studies; Streptococcal Infections; Streptococcus; Treatment Outcome

To examine the appropriateness of antibiotics prescribed for acute infection based on the Malaysian national antibiotic guidelines and the defined daily dose (DDD) system of the World Health Organization (WHO). This study also aimed to describe the factors influencing the drug use pattern and to investigate the procurement patterns of antibiotics in the primary healthcare setting.. A retrospective cohort follow-up study of randomly selected patients from all patients who received any antibiotic between January and December 2013 was conducted at three primary healthcare clinics in Selangor State of Malaysia. For each patient, the following information was recorded: name of the antibiotic, frequency and dose, and Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) group. The defined daily dose per 1000 inhabitants per day was calculated for each antibiotic. The national antibiotic guidelines were used to assess the appropriateness of each antibiotic prescription.. A total of 735 patients were included in the study. The five most used antibiotics were amoxicillin (1.36g, 35.2%), cloxacillin (0.68g, 26.3%), erythromycin (0.32g, 22.3%), bacampicillin (0.13g, 7.2%), and cephalexin (0.11g, 6.9%). Respiratory tract infections were the most commonly treated infections, and the doctors' preferred antibiotic for the treatment of these infections was amoxicillin. More than 18% of all amoxicillin prescriptions were deemed inappropriate according to the national antibiotic guidelines. In terms of procurement costs, USD 88885 was spent in 2011, USD 219402 in 2012, and USD 233034 in 2013 at the three primary healthcare clinics, an average of USD 180440 per year for the three clinics.. This study reports the antibiotic usage at three primary healthcare clinics in Klang Province. The most prescribed antibiotic was amoxicillin in capsules (250mg), which was mainly prescribed for respiratory infections. Although the national antibiotic guidelines state that amoxicillin is a preferred drug for acute bacterial rhinosinusitis, this drug is also being prescribed for other disease conditions, such as acute pharyngitis and acute tonsillitis. This result shows that current practice is not following the current antibiotic guidelines, which state that phenoxypenicillin should be the preferred drug.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Drug Utilization; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Middle Aged; Pharyngitis; Primary Health Care; Respiratory Tract Infections; Retrospective Studies; Sinusitis; Young Adult

Patients' expectations can influence antibiotic prescription by primary healthcare physicians. We assessed knowledge, attitude and practices towards antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), and whether knowledge is associated with increased expectations for antibiotics among patients visiting primary healthcare services in Singapore.. Data was collected through a cross-sectional interviewer-assisted survey of patients aged ≥21 years waiting to see primary healthcare practitioners for one or more symptoms suggestive of URTI (cough, sore throat, runny nose or blocked nose) for 7 days or less, covering the demographics, presenting symptoms, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of URTI and associated antibiotic use. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to assess independent factors associated with patients' expectations for antibiotics.. Nine hundred fourteen out of 987 eligible patients consulting 35 doctors were recruited from 24 private sector primary care clinics in Singapore. A third (307/907) expected antibiotics, of which a substantial proportion would ask the doctor for antibiotics (121/304, 40 %) and/or see another doctor (31/304, 10 %) if antibiotics were not prescribed. The majority agreed "antibiotics are effective against viruses" (715/914, 78 %) and that "antibiotics cure URTI faster" (594/912, 65 %). Inappropriate antibiotic practices include "keeping antibiotics stock at home" (125/913, 12 %), "taking leftover antibiotics" (114/913, 14 %) and giving antibiotics to family members (62/913, 7 %). On multivariate regression, the following factors were independently associated with wanting antibiotics (odds ratio; 95 % confidence interval): Malay ethnicity (1.67; 1.00-2.79), living in private housing (1.69; 1.13-2.51), presence of sore throat (1.50; 1.07-2.10) or fever (1.46; 1.01-2.12), perception that illness is serious (1.70; 1.27-2.27), belief that antibiotics cure URTI faster (5.35; 3.76-7.62) and not knowing URTI resolves on its own (2.18; 1.08-2.06), while post-secondary education (0.67; 0.48-0.94) was inversely associated. Those with lower educational levels were significantly more likely to have multiple misconceptions about antibiotics.. Majority of patients seeking primary health care in Singapore are misinformed about the role of antibiotics in URTI. Agreeing with the statement that antibiotics cure URTI faster was most strongly associated with wanting antibiotics. Those with higher educational levels were less likely to want antibiotics, while those with lower educational levels more likely to have incorrect knowledge.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Cross-Sectional Studies; Educational Status; Female; Fever; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Middle Aged; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Pharyngitis; Primary Health Care; Residence Characteristics; Respiratory Tract Infections; Singapore; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult

Topics: Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Cardiovirus Infections; Cell Line; Child; Child, Preschool; Chlorocebus aethiops; Female; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Molecular Sequence Data; Pharyngitis; Pharynx; Prevalence; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Theilovirus; Vero Cells

Topics: Child; Family Practice; Humans; Malaysia; Pharyngitis; Rheumatic Heart Disease

A throat swab from a 9 year old girl with pharyngitis yielded a non-toxigenic strain of Corynebacterium diphtheriae var mitis and Streptococcus group G. C pseudodiphtheriticum was isolated from the throats of two of her four brothers. In each case the isolate was sent to the reference laboratory before full identification. The growth was found to be mixed for one brother; the other isolate being a toxin producing C diphtheriae var gravis. The child was asymptomatic and the case proves that all colonial types on the Hoyles plate should be identified.

Topics: Child; Child, Preschool; Corynebacterium; Corynebacterium diphtheriae; Diphtheria; Disease Outbreaks; Family Health; Female; Humans; Infant; London; Malaysia; Male; Pharyngitis; Species Specificity; Streptococcus

Pharyngeal micro-organisms of 131 Australian and Malaysian children and adults were compared by analysis of aerobic culture of throat swab specimens. Enteric Gram-negative bacilli were commonly isolated in small numbers from Malaysian adults whether they had sore throats (28%) or not (36%), but were detected in only 9% of Australian adults without sore throats and in only 12% and 4% of Malaysian children with and without sore throats respectively. In other respects microbiological findings were similar in the different groups of subjects studied. It is concluded that the pharyngeal carriage rate of enteric Gram-negative bacilli may differ substantially between different groups of normal individuals. Our findings also suggest that these micro-organisms do not have a pathogenic role in pharyngitis.

Topics: Adult; Australia; Child; Enterobacteriaceae; Escherichia coli; Food Contamination; Humans; Malaysia; Pharyngitis; Pharynx; Staphylococcus; Streptococcus; Streptococcus pyogenes; Tropical Climate