meropenem and Communicable-Diseases--Emerging

Scrub typhus can present with atypical signs and symptoms such as those of acute kidney injury, gastroenteritis, pneumonitis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Meningitis, encephalitis, and hepatic dysfunction have also been reported, particularly in severe cases with multisystem involvement. Scrub typhus has never been reported in the literature to cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) which includes cystitis and pyelonephritis.. A 45-year old male presenting to the outpatient unit with fever, right flank pain, and burning micturition for three days was initially treated for UTI. However, he returned to the hospital on the fourth day of illness with persistent symptoms. He was hospitalized, with intravenous (IV) ceftriaxone. Computerized tomography scan of his abdomen-pelvis showed features of acute pyelonephritis, so his antibiotics were upgraded to meropenem and teicoplanin. Despite this, the patient's condition deteriorated. Laboratory investigations showed multisystem involvement: decreasing platelets, raised creatinine, and deranged liver panel. As Kathmandu was hit by dengue epidemic during the patient's hospitalization, on the seventh day of his illness, blood samples were sent for tropical fever investigation. All tests came out negative except for scrub typhus-IgM antibodies positive on rapid diagnostic test. The patient's symptoms subsided after 48 h of starting doxycycline and he became fully asymptomatic four days later. Fever did not recur even after discontinuing other IV antibiotics, favoring scrub typhus disease rather than systemic bacterial sepsis.. Scrub typhus is an emerging infectious disease of Nepal. Therefore, every unexplained fever cases (irrespective of clinical presentation) should be evaluated for potential Rickettsiosis. Moreover, for cases with acute pyelonephritis, atypical causative agents should be investigated, for example scrub typhus in this case.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Ceftriaxone; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Doxycycline; Fever; Humans; Male; Meropenem; Middle Aged; Nepal; Pyelonephritis; Scrub Typhus; Teicoplanin

A significant increase in the rate of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) bacteremia at our health service, despite improved infection control, prompted us to investigate the cause.. E. faecium bacteremia (including VREfm) over a 12-year period (1998-2009) was investigated using multilocus sequence typing, antibiotic and antiseptic susceptibility profiles, optical mapping, and whole genome sequencing of historical and recent isolates.. For 10 years, the rate of bacteremia due to vanB VREfm remained stable and sequence type (ST) 17 was predominant. In 2005, ST203 vancomycin-susceptible E. faecium first appeared at our institution, and from March 2007, coinciding with the appearance of a vanB VREfm ST203, the rate of VRE bacteremia has increased exponentially. Although we found no difference in antiseptic susceptibility or presence of genes encoding putative virulence determinants (esp(Efm), hyl(Efm), and fms genes), comparative genomics revealed almost 500 kb of unique sequence when an ST17 and an ST203 VREfm isolate were compared, suggesting that other genomic factors are responsible for the apparent success of E. faecium.. The application of multilocus sequence typing has uncovered the emergence of an epidemic clone of E. faecium ST203 that appears to have acquired the vanB locus and has caused a sustained outbreak of VRE bacteremia.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Australia; Bacteremia; Bacterial Proteins; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Cross Infection; Disease Outbreaks; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Enterococcus faecium; Genomics; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections; Humans; Incidence; Meropenem; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Phylogeny; Thienamycins; Vancomycin; Vancomycin Resistance

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited disease of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase system that causes defective production of toxic oxygen metabolites, impaired bacterial and fungal killing, and recurrent life-threatening infections, mostly by catalase-producing organisms. We report for the first time, to our knowledge, chronic infections with Actinomyces species in 10 patients with CGD. Actinomycosis is a chronic granulomatous condition that commonly manifests as cervicofacial, pulmonary, or abdominal disease, caused by slowly progressive infection with oral and gastrointestinal commensal Actinomyces species. Treatment of actinomycosis is usually simple in immunocompetent individuals, requiring long-term, high-dose intravenous penicillin, but is more complicated in those with CGD because of delayed diagnosis and an increased risk of chronic invasive or debilitating disease.. Actinomyces was identified by culture, staining, 16S ribosomal DNA polymerase chain reaction, and/or a complement fixation test in 10 patients with CGD.. All 10 patients presented with a history of fever and elevated inflammatory signs without evident focus. Diagnosis was delayed and clinical course severe and protracted despite high-dose intravenous antibiotic therapy and/or surgery. These results suggest an unrecognized and unanticipated susceptibility to weakly pathogenic Actinomyces species in patients with CGD because these are catalase-negative organisms previously thought to be nonpathogenic in CGD.. Actinomycosis should be vigorously sought and promptly treated in patients with CGD presenting with uncommon and prolonged clinical signs of infection. Actinomycosis is a catalase-negative infection important to consider in CGD.

Topics: Actinomyces; Actinomycosis; Adolescent; Adult; Amoxicillin; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Azithromycin; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Ceftriaxone; Child; Clindamycin; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; DNA, Ribosomal; Female; Granulomatous Disease, Chronic; Humans; Male; Meropenem; Penicillin G; Penicillin V; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sulfamethoxazole; Thienamycins; Trimethoprim; Young Adult