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It has been estimated that the human gut contains about 1,000 species of bacteria and 100 times more genes than are found in the human genome. Over 2 Kg - as weight. It is the human microbiom that form a true "forgotten organ" of our body. Due to the abuse of antibiotics, the Clostridium difficile infection became one of the top nosocomial infections due to complications and financial pressure on the medical system. We conducted a prospective study of the characteristics of risk factors and epidemiological aspects in patients with Clostridium difficile infection admitted to the Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases from Constanta for a period of 3 years. Demographics (age), risk factors (surgery, history of antibiotics or proton pump inhibitors, comorbidities) were noted. The classes of antibiotics used, other than the basic treatment of the condition were analyzed. Also the source of the infection including the ward were the patient was previously hospitalized. 47% (104) of the patients were in the 60-80 interval of age. Nearly half of the patients had a history of surgery. Only 52 patients out of a total of 221 had no history of antibiotic therapy. More than half had PPI therapy prior to the onset of CD infection. In terms of comorbidities, they are multiple, at different systems, the most common being cardiovascular, nutritional and renal diseases. The source of infection was found as nosocomial in 65% of patients. Regarding the origin of the hospital wards, the surgical departments were the main ones in which CD infections appeared: General Surgery (46), Orthopedics (33) and Urology (13). Our study results confirm that reported risk factors are advanced age, antibiotics use, proton pump inhibitors administration, comorbidities and exposure to health care sistem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic condition of the gastrointestinal tract comprising of two entities: Crohn disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC). Considered rare in children in the past, inflammatory bowel disease is nowadays more frequently found, raising diagnostic and treatment challenges. In our study, we have taken into consideration all children diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, in the Department of Pediatrics of the Clinical Emergency County Hospital of Constanta, from 2016 to 2019. 14 children were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease during this timeframe, 8 with Crohn disease (57,14%) and 6 with Ulcerative colitis (42,86%). The mean age at onset was 8.2 years for Crohn disease patients, varying between 20 months to 15 years, and 12.8 years for Ulcerative colitis patients, varying between 8 to 14 years. After a positive diagnosis, different types of induction therapy was implemented, depending on the activity and severity of the disease, as well as on the type of inflammatory bowel disease. 12 patients received iv corticosteroids for an average of five days, followed by oral corticosteroids for 4-8 weeks. Aminosalicylates (Mesalazine) was used as a sole induction treatment in children with UC, or in association with corticosteroids in severe cases (4 cases). Immunomodulatory treatment (Azathioprine) was used for maintaining remission in 5 children with Crohn disease for an average period of 6 months. In 3 cases of CD, antibiotics, such as Metronidazole, were used in the initial treatment. Biological therapy, such as Adalimumab (ADA), was administered as an induction therapy in patients with refractory to conventional treatment forms, in 5 cases, with a favourable outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of the study were to determine the efficacy of pegylated interferon alfa 2 b (PegINF) and ribavirin (RBV) treatment in co-infected HIV / HCV patients, to identify predictive factors associated with sustained viral response (SVR) in these patients. Out of the 956 HIV infected patients, 38 were HCVAb (4%) positive, 14 of which had undetectable HCV RNA, only 6 patients met the inclusion criteria. Screening failure was due to: liver cirrhosis Child Pugh B / C, hepatocellular carcinoma, pulmonary TB, thyroid dysfunction, CD4 <200 cells/mm3, detectable HIV RNA and depressive syndrome. We initiated PegINF and RBV therapy for 48 weeks. SVR was achieved in 16.6% of cases (only one patient) and correlated with HCV RNA level, CD4 count, duration of HIV infection, CDC classification and liver fibrosis. In conclusion, our study group has a low prevalence of HIV / HCV co-infection (2.6%) with a large number of patients HCVAb positive but undetectable HCV RNA. Positive predictive factors for SVR were: low levels of HCV RNA, small duration of HIV infection, high levels of CD4, B1/B2 (CDC classification) and low degree of fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under conditions of increased consumption of antibiotics, pseudomembranous colitis has become a common condition in Romanian hospitals. Severe forms of the disease are becoming more common, recurrences are numerous, and metronidazole and vancomycin therapy has failed to prevent these recurrences. The study aims to identify the characteristics of patients who require a fecal transplant, the time for its performance and what are the short-term and possibly long-term consequences of this method. We analyzed 26 patients who had a fecal transplant with a favorable evolution in 96%. We consider that FMT is an effective method for preventing recurrent CDI but also for those with resistance to the usual antibiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Medical management of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases is complex and tailored to disease activity. The primary goal is the induction of remission and maintenance of remission with longterm prevention of disease progression. AIM: to describe current drug treatment practices in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in Dobrogea. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The retrospective and descriptive study included 128 patients: group 1 = Crohn's Disease (79), group 2 = Ulcerative Colitis (46) and group 3 = Unclassified Colitis (3). RESULTS: The phenotypic distribution was: 62% with Crohn's Disease, 36% with Ulcerative Colitis and 3 patients with Unclassified Colitis. CROHN'S DISEASE: According to Montreal Classification, the majority of patients were diagnosed after 40 years (58%); the most frequent involvement was ileo-colonic (47%) and the most frequent phenotype was inflammatory (60%). 40% patients had intestinal complications and 7% had extraintestinal complications. 16.4% required surgical interventions. 67% were treated at some point with aminosalicylates, 44% with immunosuppressive drugs (thiopurines), 80% with corticosteroids for the induction of remission (inaugural flare) and 50% of them received again corticosteroidssteroids in the evolution of the disease, and 29% with biologic therapy. ULCERATIVE COLITIS: Most common location was left colitis in 47% cases. One patient had intestinal complications and no extraintestinal complications were reported in this group. No patients required surgical interventions. 82.5% were treated at some point with aminosalicylates, 37% with immunosuppressive drugs (thiopurines), 17% with corticosteroids and 11% with biologic therapy. UNCLASSIFIED COLITIS: In this group were not reported intestinal and extraintestinal complications and also no patient required surgical interventions. 2 patients were treated at some point with aminosalicylates, all patients were treated with immunomodulators and only one patient was administered biologic therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Particularities of Crohn's Disease in our region are: widespread use of aminosalicylates, overuse of corticosteroids overtime, underprescribed biologic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]