The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has induced a reinforcement of infection control measures in the hospital setting. Here, we assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ...incidence of nosocomial Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).
We retrospectively compared the incidence density (cases per 10,000 patient days) of healthcare-facility-associated (HCFA) CDI in a tertiary-care hospital in Madrid, Spain, during the maximum incidence of COVID-19 (March 11 to May 11, 2020) with the same period of the previous year (control period). We also assessed the aggregate in-hospital antibiotic use (ie, defined daily doses DDD per 100 occupied bed days BD) and incidence density (ie, movements per 1,000 patient days) of patient mobility during both periods.
In total, 2,337 patients with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-confirmed COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital during the COVID-19 period. Also, 12 HCFA CDI cases were reported at this time (incidence density, 2.68 per 10,000 patient days), whereas 34 HCFA CDI cases were identified during the control period (incidence density, 8.54 per 10,000 patient days) (P = .000257). Antibiotic consumption was slightly higher during the COVID-19 period (89.73 DDD per 100 BD) than during the control period (79.16 DDD per 100 BD). The incidence density of patient movements was 587.61 per 1,000 patient days during the control period and was significantly lower during the COVID-19 period (300.86 per 1,000 patient days) (P < .0001).
The observed reduction of ~70% in the incidence density of HCFA CDI in a context of no reduction in antibiotic use supports the importance of reducing nosocomial transmission by healthcare workers and asymptomatic colonized patients, reinforcing cleaning procedures and reducing patient mobility in the epidemiological control of CDI.
Pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1A (PHP1A) encompasses the association of resistance to multiple hormones, features of Albright hereditary osteodystrophy and decreased Gsα activity. Little is known ...about the early signs of PHP1A, with a delay in diagnosis. We report two PHP1A cases and their clinical and biochemical findings during a 20-year follow-up.
Clinical suspicion was based on obesity, TSH resistance and ectopic ossifications which appeared several months before PTH resistance, at almost 3 years of age. Treatment with levothyroxine, calcitriol and calcium was required in both patients. DNA sequencing of GNAS gene detected a heterozygous pathogenic variant within exon 7 (c.569_570delAT) in patient one and a deletion from XLAS to GNAS-exon 5 on the maternal allele in patient 2. In patient 1, ectopic ossifications that required surgical excision were found. Noticeably, patient 2 displayed adult short stature, intracranial calcifications and psychomotor delay. In terms of weight, despite early diagnosis of obesity, dietary measures were established successfully in both cases.
GNAS mutations should be considered in patients with obesity, ectopic ossifications and TSH resistance presented in early infancy. These cases emphasize the highly heterogeneous clinical picture PHP1A patients may present, especially in terms of final height and cognitive impairment.
Abstract
Introduction
The main challenge in the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is to reduce recurrence rates. Fidaxomicin improves the recurrence rate of CDI compared with ...vancomycin. Extended-pulsed dosing of fidaxomicin was associated with lower recurrence rates in one clinical trial but has never been directly compared with conventional fidaxomicin dosing.
Methods
To compare the recurrence rate of fidaxomicin conventional dosing (FCD) and fidaxomicin in extended-pulsed dosing (FEPD) in conditions of clinical practice at a single institution. We performed propensity score matching taking the variables age, severity and previous episode as confounders to evaluate patients with a similar recurrence risk.
Results
In total, 254 episodes of CDI treated with fidaxomicin were evaluated: 170 (66.9%) received FCD, and 84 (33.1%) received FEPD. More patients who received FCD were hospitalized for CDI, had severe CDI and had a diagnosis based on toxin detection. In contrast, the proportion of patients receiving proton pump inhibitors was higher in those receiving FEPD. The crude recurrence rates in FCD- and FEPD-treated patients were 20.0% and 10.7%, respectively (OR:0.48; 95% CI 0.22–1.05; P = 0.068). We did not find any differences in CDI recurrence rate in patients receiving FEPD versus FCD (OR = 0.74; 95% CI 0.27–2.04) by propensity score analysis.
Conclusions
Although the recurrence rate with FEPD was numerically lower than that observed with FCD, we have not been able to show that the recurrence rate of CDI is different depending on the dosage regimen of fidaxomicin. Clinical trials or large observational studies comparing the two dosing regimens of fidaxomicin are needed.
The aim was to describe the safety of indefinite administration of antibiotics, the so-called suppressive antibiotic therapy (SAT) and to provide insight into their impact on gut microbiota. 17 ...patients with SAT were recruited, providing a fecal sample. Bacterial composition was determined by 16S rDNA massive sequencing, and their viability was explored by PCR-DGGE with and without propidium monoazide. Presence of antibiotic multirresistant bacteria was explored through the culture of feces in selective media. High intra-individual variability in the genera distribution regardless of the antibiotic or antibiotic administration ingestion period, with few statistically significant differences detected by Bray-Curtis distance-based principle component analysis, permutational multivariate analysis of variance and linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis. However, the microbiota composition of patients treated with both beta-lactams and sulfonamides clustered by a heat map. Curiously, the detection of antibiotic resistant bacteria was almost anecdotic and CTX-M-15-producing
were detected in two subjects. Our work demonstrates the overall clinical safety of SAT and the low rate of the selection of multidrug-resistant bacteria triggered by this therapy. We also describe the composition of intestinal microbiota under the indefinite use of antibiotics for the first time.
A 79-year-old male was diagnosed with a total knee prosthetic infection. He had a history of an episode of Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhoea a year ago. Clostridioides difficile was ...isolated from the joint fluid and intraoperative tissue samples, and ribotyping demonstrated that the strain was the same that had caused the diarrheic episode, an infrequent ribotype (RT534). The genetic relatedness suggests that the initial infection occurred during that hospitalization, resulting in a chronic prosthetic infection. We have carried out an extensive literature review of all the cases reported in scientific databases of Clostridioides difficile infections with extraintestinal presentation and their relationship with previous colitis.
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•Difficile causes indolent infections that can take a long time to become apparent.•Extraintestinal C. difficile infection is usually preceded by an intestinal disease.•Suspect a C. difficile joint prosthetic infection in a patient with previous diarrhoea.•There is a lack of consensus for the treatment of extraintestinal C. difficile infection.
After two-stage exchange due to prosthetic joint infection (PJI), the new prosthesis carries a high risk of reinfection (RePJI). There isn`t solid evidence regarding the antibiotic prophylaxis in ...2nd-stage surgery. The objective of this study is to describe what antibiotic prophylaxis is used in this surgery and evaluate its impact on the risk of developing RePJI.
Retrospective multicenter case-control study in Spanish hospitals. The study included cases of PJI treated with two-stage exchange and subsequently developed a new infection. For each case, two controls were included, matched by prosthesis location, center, and year of surgery. The prophylaxis regimens were grouped based on their antibacterial spectrum, and we calculated the association between the type of regimen and the development of RePJI using conditional logistic regression, adjusted for possible confounding factors.
We included 90 cases from 12 centers, which were compared with 172 controls. The most frequent causative microorganism was Staphylococcus epidermidis with 34 cases (37.8%). Staphylococci were responsible for 50 cases (55.6%), 32 of them (64%) methicillin-resistant. Gram-negative bacilli were involved in 30 cases (33.3%), the most common Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In total, 83 different antibiotic prophylaxis regimens were used in 2nd-stage surgery, the most frequent a single preoperative dose of cefazolin (48 occasions; 18.3%); however, it was most common a combination of a glycopeptide and a beta-lactam with activity against Pseudomonas spp (99 cases, 25.2%). In the adjusted analysis, regimens that included antibiotics with activity against methicillin-resistant staphylococci AND Pseudomonas spp were associated with a significantly lower risk of RePJI (adjusted OR = 0.24; 95% IC: 0.09-0.65).
The lack of standardization in 2nd-satge surgery prophylaxis explains the wide diversity of regimens used in this procedure. The results suggest that antibiotic prophylaxis in this surgery should include an antibiotic with activity against methicillin-resistant staphylococci and Pseudomonas.
•Patients with late acute PJI have a better outcome when treated with revision surgery instead of DAIR.•Patients with late acute PJI can be selected for revision surgery according to the preoperative ...risk of DAIR failure defined by the CRIME80 score.•The causative microorganism and its susceptibility to antibiotics should ideally be taken into account as well to decide for the best surgical approach.
We evaluated the treatment outcome in late acute (LA) periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) treated with debridement and implant retention (DAIR) versus implant removal.
In a large multicenter study, LA PJIs of the hip and knee were retrospectively evaluated. Failure was defined as: PJI related death, prosthesis removal or the need for suppressive antibiotic therapy. LA PJI was defined as acute symptoms <3 weeks in patients more than 3 months after the index surgery and with a history of normal joint function.
445 patients were included, comprising 340 cases treated with DAIR and 105 cases treated with implant removal (19% one-stage revision (n = 20), 74.3% two-stage revision (n = 78) and 6.7% definitive implant removal (n = 7). Overall failure in patients treated with DAIR was 45.0% (153/340) compared to 24.8% (26/105) for implant removal (p < 0.001). Difference in failure rate remained after 1:1 propensity-score matching. A preoperative CRIME80-score ≥3 (OR 2.9), PJI caused by S. aureus (OR 1.8) and implant retention (OR 3.1) were independent predictors for failure in the multivariate analysis.
DAIR is a viable surgical treatment for most patients with LA PJI, but implant removal should be considered in a subset of patients, especially in those with a CRIME80-score ≥3.
Surgical débridement, antibiotics and implant retention (DAIR) is currently recommended by international guidelines for both early acute (postsurgical) and late acute (hematogenous) periprosthetic ...joint infections (PJIs). However, due to a different pathogenesis of infection, a different treatment strategy may be needed.
(1) Compared with early acute PJIs, are late acute PJIs associated with a higher risk of DAIR failure? (2) When stratified by microorganism, is the higher risk of failure in late acute PJI associated with Staphylocococcus aureus infection? (3) When analyzing patients with S. aureus infection, what factors are independently associated with DAIR failure?
In this multicenter observational study, early acute and late acute PJIs treated with DAIR were retrospectively evaluated and matched according to treating center, year of diagnosis, and infection-causing microorganism. If multiple matches were available, the early acute PJI diagnosed closest to the late acute PJI was selected. A total of 132 pairs were included. Treatment success was defined as a retained implant during follow-up without the need for antibiotic suppressive therapy.
Late acute PJIs had a lower treatment success (46% 60 of 132) compared with early acute PJIs (76% 100 of 132), OR 3.9 95% CI 2.3 to 6.6; p < 0.001), but the lower treatment success of late acute PJIs was only observed when caused by Staphylococcus spp (S. aureus: 34% versus 75%; p < 0.001; coagulase-negative staphylococci: 46% versus 88%; p = 0.013, respectively). On multivariable analysis, late acute PJI was the only independent factor associated with an unsuccessful DAIR when caused by S. aureus (OR 4.52 95% CI 1.79 to 11.41; p < 0.001).
Although DAIR seems to be a successful therapeutic strategy in the management of early acute PJI, its use in late acute PJI should be reconsidered when caused by Staphylococcus spp. Our results advocate the importance of isolating the causative microorganism before surgery.
Level III, therapeutic study.
Abstract
Background
We aimed at constructing a composite score based on Epstein-Barr virus DNAemia (EBVd) and simple clinical and immunological parameters to predict late severe infection (LI) beyond ...month 6 in solid organ transplantation (SOT) recipients.
Methods
Kidney and liver transplant recipients between May 2014 and August 2016 at 4 participating centers were included. Serum immunoglobulins and complement factors, peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations, and whole blood EBVd were determined at months 1, 3, and 6. Cox regression analyses were performed to generate a weighted score for the prediction of LI.
Results
Overall, 309 SOT recipients were followed-up for a median of 1000 days from transplant (interquartile range, 822–1124). Late severe infection occurred in 104 patients (33.6%). The CLIV Score consisted of the following variables at month 6: high-level EBVd (>1500 IU/mL) and recurrent infection during the previous months (6 points); recipient age ≥70 years and chronic graft dysfunction (5 points); cytomegalovirus mismatch (4 points); and CD8+ T-cell count <400 cells/μL (2 points). The area under receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.71–0.84). The risk of LI at day 1000 was as follows: score 0, 12.6%; score 2–5, 25.5%; score 6–9, 52.7%; score ≥10, 73.5%.
Conclusions
While waiting for further external validation, the CLIV Score based on clinical and immune-virological parameters is potentially useful to stratify the risk of LI after SOT.
The CLIV Score consisted of the following variables at month 6: high-level EBVd and recurrent infection during the previous months; recipient age ≥70 years and chronic graft dysfunction; CMV mismatch; and CD8+ T-cell count <400 cells/μL.