induces severe infective endocarditis (IE) where embolic complications are a major cause of death. Risk factors for embolism have been reported such as a younger age or larger IE vegetations, while ...methicillin resistance conferred by the
gene appeared as a protective factor. It is unclear, however, whether embolism is influenced by other
characteristics such as clonal complex (CC) or virulence pattern. We examined clinical and microbiological predictors of embolism in a prospective multicentric cohort of 98 French patients with monomicrobial
IE. The genomic contents of causative isolates were characterized using DNA array. To preserve statistical power, genotypic predictors were restricted to CC, secreted virulence factors and virulence regulators. Multivariate regularized logistic regression identified three independent predictors of embolism. Patients at higher risk were younger than the cohort median age of 62.5 y (adjusted odds ratio OR 0.14; 95% confidence interval CI 0.05-0.36).
characteristics predicting embolism were a CC30 genetic background (adjusted OR 9.734; 95% CI 1.53-192.8) and the absence of pIB485-like plasmid-borne enterotoxin-encoding genes
, and
(
; adjusted OR 0.07; 95% CI 0.004-0.457). CC30
has been repeatedly reported to exhibit enhanced fitness in bloodstream infections, which might impact its ability to cause embolism.
-encoded enterotoxins, whose superantigenic activity is unlikely to protect against embolism, possibly acted as a proxy to others genes of the pIB485-like plasmid found in genetically unrelated isolates from mostly embolism-free patients.
did not independently predict embolism but was strongly associated with
. This
-
association might have driven previous reports of a negative association of
and embolism. Collectively, our results suggest that the influence of
genotypic features on the risk of embolism may be stronger than previously suspected and independent of clinical risk factors.
Concerning 100 intravenous digital subtraction angiographies (IV DSA) performed for the study of arterial hypertension, the results are discussed according to two different achievements: diagnostic ...and economic. One hundred patients have been examined after the intravenous (IV) injection of contrast material, seventy times in peripheral and thirty times in central venous system. Out of 94 examinations that could be interpreted, 10 revealed stenosis of renal arteries higher than 50 per cent, one revealed fibromuscular dysplasia. IV DSA generally permits the correct study of renal arteries and compared to conventional angiography it gives only a small number of false negative results. However, the reliable study of intrarenal vascularisation can be obtained only by renal arteriography. The renal arteriography remains therefore necessary: when renal IV DSA gives insufficient data; to estimate the degree of stenosis in fibro-muscular dysplasia; to evaluate intrarenal vascularisation before renovascular surgery or angioplasty. To estimate the economic validity of renal IV DSA for the study of arterial hypertension, we have investigated: the actual cost of the examination for a department of radiology, compared with the cost of conventional examination; on the other hand, the influence of this examination on the duration of hospitalisation for evaluation of arterial hypertension. According to our investigation, this examination allows the average reduction of expenses for 180 F per patient with arterial hypertension, and shortens the time of hospitalisation for about one day. Owing to this diagnostic and economic contribution, renal IV DSA is becoming the first examination to be done for the evaluation of renovascular hypertension.
Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) is a frequent and deadly disease. Given the lack of a randomized trial, optimal first-line antibiotic treatment is still debated. Our aim was to identify ...prognostic factors in SAB patients and to analyse the impact of first-line antibiotics. The VIRSTA prospective cohort study was conducted in eight tertiary care centres in France. Consecutive incident adults in whom a blood culture drawn in participating centres grew S. aureus between April 2009 and October 2011 were prospectively followed for 12 weeks. Factors associated with 12-week case-fatality were identified by multivariate logistic regression. We enrolled 2091 patients and analysed survival in 1972 (median age 67.8 years, interquartile range 55.5–78.9; females 692/1972, 35.1%). SAB was nosocomial or healthcare-related in 1372/1972 (69.6%) of cases and the primary focus was unknown in 414/1972 (21.0%) of cases. Week 12 case-fatality rate was 671/1972 (34.0%). The main independent prognostic factors on multivariate analysis were age (adjusted OR by 10-year increment 1.56; 95% CI 1.44–1.69), septic shock (OR 5.11; 95% CI 3.84–6.80), metastatic cancer (OR 4.28; 95% CI 2.88–6.38), and unknown primary focus (OR 2.62; 95% CI 2.02–3.41). In the 1538 patients with methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) bacteraemia, first-line empiric antistaphylococcal penicillins (OR 0.40; 95% CI 0.17–0.95) and vancomycin (OR 0.37; 95% CI 0.17–0.83), alone or combined with an aminoglycoside, were associated with better outcome compared with other antibiotics. There are few modifiable prognostic factors for SAB. Initiating empiric antibiotics with antistaphylococcal penicillins or vancomycin may be associated with better outcome in MSSA bacteraemia.
Bandres and Darouiche described one case of community-acquired native-valve endocarditis due to Staphylococcus capitis . This observation emphasizes the increasing incidence of endocarditis due to ...coagulase-negative staphylococci. We report a similar case of S. capitis endocarditis on a native valve. It is of interest that, in our case, strains isolated from blood cultures and from the portal of entry were genetically different as demonstrated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of chromosomal DNA.
Screening by ofloxacin disk was carried out on 1158 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae in order to investigate the in vitro bacteriostatic activity of penicillin G, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, ...telithromycin, linezolid, pristinamycin and quinupristin–dalfopristin against ofloxacin-intermediate and -resistant S. pneumoniae strains. It was concluded that these new antimicrobial agents could be useful for the treatment of pneumococcal infections caused by penicillin-sensitive and -resistant S. pneumoniae, and would represent a valid therapeutic option for patients allergic to β-lactams, should they prove to be potent in vivo.
We report a case of a lung abscess due to Pasteurella multocida, isolated from bronchial secretions by fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Antibodies against Pasteurella multocida were elevated in the patient, ...and absent in controls (including the patient's wife). The identity of the strain isolated in the patient and that in his cat was proved by molecular method using pulsed field gel electrophoresis.
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