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Numerous prophylactic antibiotic regimens (PBR) have been evaluated particularly in surgical abortion, hysterosalpingography or caesarean section, but few randomized comparative trials are available. Recommendations for PBR should take into account, expected and demonstrated benefits that reduce the risk of surgical site infection, but also the impact on the microbiota, the risk of bacterial resistance selection, and the overall cost to the community. In addition, antibiotic prophylaxis is not the only one factor to reduce the risk of surgical site infection, such as preventive measures and good hygiene practices.

Objectives Establish recommendations for the management of UTIs in MS patients. Background Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common during multiple sclerosis (MS) and are one of the most common comorbidities potentially responsible for deaths from urinary sepsis. Methods The recommendations attempt to answer three main questions about UTIs and MS. The French Group for Recommendations in MS (France4MS) did a systematic review of articles from PubMed and universities databases (01/1980–12/2019). The RAND/UCLA appropriateness method, which has been developed to synthesize the scientific literature and expert opinions on health care topics, was used for reaching a formal agreement. 26 MS experts worked on the full-text review and a group of 70 multidisciplinary health care specialists validated the final evaluation of summarized evidences. Results UTIs are not associated with an increased risk of relapse and permanent worsening of disability. Only febrile UTIs worsen transient disability through the Uhthoff phenomenon. Some immunosuppressive treatments increase the risk of UTIs in MS patients and require special attention especially in case of hypogammaglobulinemia. Experts recommend to treat UTIs in patients with MS, according to recommendations of the general population. Prevention of recurrent UTIs requires stabilization of the neurogenic bladder. In some cases, weekly oral cycling antibiotics can be proposed after specialist advice. Asymptomatic bacteriuria should not be screened for or treated systematically except in special cases (pregnancy and invasive urological procedures). Conclusion Physicians and patients should be aware of the updated recommendations for UTis and MS.

Objectives Reducing antibiotic consumption has now become a major public health priority. Reducing treatment duration is one of the means to achieve this objective. Guidelines on the therapeutic management of the most frequent infections recommend ranges of treatment duration in the ratio of one to two. The Recommendation Group of the French Infectious Diseases Society (SPILF) was asked to collect literature data to then recommend the shortest treatment durations possible for various infections. Methods Analysis of the literature focused on guidelines published in French and English, supported by a systematic search on PubMed. Articles dating from one year before the guidelines publication to August 31, 2015 were searched on the website. Results The shortest treatment durations based on the relevant clinical data were suggested for upper and lower respiratory tract infections, central venous catheter-related and uncomplicated primary bacteremia, infective endocarditis, bacterial meningitis, intra-abdominal, urinary tract, upper reproductive tract, bone and joint, skin and soft tissue infections, and febrile neutropenia. Details of analyzed articles were shown in tables. Conclusion This work stresses the need for new well-conducted studies evaluating treatment durations for some common infections. Following the above-mentioned work focusing on existing literature data, the Recommendation Group of the SPILF suggests specific study proposals.

International audience; OBJECTIVE: To compare the practices of French infection specialists related to antibiotic therapy duration between 2016 and 2018.METHODS: We conducted two identical surveys (in 2016 and 2018) targeting hospital-based infection specialists (medical physicians, pharmacists) who gave at least weekly advice on antibiotic prescriptions. The questionnaire included 15 clinical vignettes. Part A asked about the durations of antibiotic therapies they would usually advise to prescribers, and part B asked about the shortest duration they would be willing to advise for the same clinical situations.RESULTS: We included 325 specialists (165 in 2016 and 160 in 2018), mostly infectious disease specialists (82.4%, 268/325), members of antibiotic stewardship teams in 72% (234/325) of cases. Shorter antibiotic treatments (as compared with the literature) were advised to prescribers in more than half of the vignettes by 71% (105/147) of respondents in 2018, versus 46% (69/150) in 2016 (P

International audience; OBJECTIVE:We aimed to assess medical practices of French infectious disease specialists or any other relevant physicians related to the management of non-necrotizing cellulitis (NNC).METHODS:We sent an online questionnaire to members of the French Infectious Diseases Society (SPILF) mailing list in September 2015.RESULTS:A total of 108 specialists took part in the survey and 10% (11/107) declared to always admit NNC patients to hospital. As for the others, 18% declared to admit patients in more than 80% of cases, 49% in 50-80% of cases, 26% in 20-50% of cases, and 7% in less than 20% of cases. The most frequent criteria for hospital admission were severe sepsis/septic shock (99%), poor social conditions (99%), rapid extension of skin lesions (93%), high level of pain (86%), and failure of first-line antibiotic therapy (84%). Participants mentioned similar criteria for reasons to initiate the intravenous (IV) antibiotic therapy. Fifty-three percent of respondents declared initiating antibiotic therapy using the IV route in more than 80% of cases. Physicians declared that the usual antibiotic therapy duration were 15 days (3%).CONCLUSION:Criteria for hospital admission and use of the IV route for antibiotic therapy as well as optimal treatment duration in patients presenting with NNC need to be detailed in guidelines and evaluated in prospective studies.

International audience; Objectives: To evaluate the current practice and the willingness to shorten the duration of antibiotic therapy among infection specialists.Methods: Infection specialists giving at least weekly advice on antibiotic prescriptions were invited to participate in an online cross-sectional survey between September and December 2016. The questionnaire included 15 clinical vignettes corresponding to common clinical cases with favourable outcomes; part A asked about the antibiotic treatment duration they would usually advise to prescribers and part B asked about the shortest duration they were willing to recommend.Results: We included 866 participants, mostly clinical microbiologists (22.8%, 197/863) or infectious diseases specialists (58.7%, 507/863), members of an antibiotic stewardship team in 73% (624/854) of the cases, coming from 58 countries on all continents. Thirty-six percent of participants (271/749) already advised short durations of antibiotic therapy (compared with the literature) to prescribers for more than half of the vignettes and 47% (312/662) chose shorter durations in part B compared with part A for more than half of the vignettes. Twenty-two percent (192/861) of the participants declared that their regional/national guidelines expressed durations of antibiotic therapy for a specific clinical situation as a fixed duration as opposed to a range and in the multivariable analysis this was associated with respondents advising short durations for more than half of the vignettes (adjusted OR 1.5, P = 0.02).Conclusions: The majority of infection specialists currently do not advise the shortest possible duration of antibiotic therapy to prescribers. Promoting short durations among these experts is urgently needed.

International audience; For many patients living with HIV-1, the efficacy of combined ART (cART) has made the infection turn to a chronic disease. Because cART is associated with a risk of long-term toxicity, switching patients with virological success to another therapy remains a major issue. Studies undertaken and published over recent years have shown that switching patients exhibiting virological suppression to less-drug regimens (LDR) is a possible option of maintenance strategy. The use of ritonavir-boosted PIs (PI/r) as the backbone of LDR-based maintenance therapy is consistent with their virological potency and a high genetic barrier of resistance. Atazanavir is the most documented PI/r regarding maintenance in dual therapy, with favourable results in terms of virological suppression, tolerance improvement and absence of emergence of mutations. Furthermore, atazanavir is the only commonly prescribed PI that can be used after withdrawal of ritonavir, with maintenance of virological suppression whatever the backbone of associated NRTIs. Based on clinical studies, and taking into account the characteristics of the patients included, one may consider that for any patient with a virological suppression on cART for at least 12 months, with the nadir CD4 >100 cells/mm3 and an absence of encephalitis, an LDR-based maintenance therapy including atazanavir can be considered. Cumulative genotypes must be available to make sure that the LDR will not jeopardize future therapeutic options. The final decision regarding the most appropriate LDR must be guided by the objectives shared by the physician and his/her patient.

Summary A 19-year-old man presented with a 1.5-cm nodule on the first dorsal metacarpal ray. The patient denied having contact with fish tanks or fish, but recalled handling many reptiles without gloves in the vivarium where he worked. A culture of a skin biopsy specimen yielded Mycobacterium marinum . The clinical outcome was favourable after a 2-week course of intramuscular gentamicin (180mg daily) combined with a 6-week course of oral clarithromycin (500mg twice a day). Doctors should be aware that vivariums, in addition to fish tanks, can be sources of M. marinum exposure.

To the Editor: Oculoglandular tularemia accounts for 3%–5% of all diagnosed tularemia cases (1). We report the diagnosis of this disease in 2 patients in France by real-time PCR. Patient A, a 43-year-old woman, was referred in October 2006 to the infectious disease department of Auch Hospital (Auch, France). She had a fever (39°C) and severe conjunctivitis of the right eye that had evolved over 2 weeks despite administration of amoxicillin/clavulanate. The patient lived in a rural area endemic for tularemia and had regular contact with dogs and ring doves. She remembered harvesting mushrooms in a nearby forest a few days before onset of clinical symptoms. Physical examination showed a hyperemic and painful right conjunctiva, enlarged (0.5–1.5 cm in diameter) and tender preauricular and submandibular lymph nodes, and cellulitis of the right hemiface. Her condition rapidly improved after she received doxycycline and gentamicin. Patient B, a 42-year-old woman, was referred in October 2008 to the infectious disease department of Dijon University Hospital (Dijon, France) for intermittent fever (38.5°C) and swollen left-sided pretragal and cervical lymph nodes, which had evolved for 3 weeks despite administration of amoxicillin, followed by pristinamycin and prednisone, and ciprofloxacin for 7 days. The patient remembered being scratched on the left hand by her dog several weeks earlier; the scratch healed spontaneously. She had recently walked in a nearby forest that was endemic for tularemia. Physical examination showed enlarged (2–3 cm in diameter), tender lymph nodes and bilateral conjunctivitis. Her condition improved after doxycycline therapy, but the pretragal lymph nodes were removed surgically in late November 2008 because of suppuration and necrosis. Ofloxacin was administered until January 2009 because of persistence of inflammation in cervical lymph nodes and suppuration with skin fistulization in the pretragal region. Diagnostic investigations (Table) conducted at Grenoble University Hospital included serologic tests (microagglutination and indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay by using locally prepared Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica antigen), culture, and 2 real-time PCRs. These PCRs were specific for insertion sequence ISFtu2 or the Tul4 protein–encoding gene of Francisella sp. and used previously described primers, probes, an amplification protocol (2), and a LightCycler 2.0 apparatus (Roche, Meylan, France). We tested 5 μL of DNA extracted from clinical samples by using the QIAamp DNA Mini kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany). Three negative controls (DNA-free water) and 1 positive control (DNA extracted from the F. tularensis subsp. holarctica LVS strain) were used for each PCR. Table Characteristics of the 2 patients in the study and test results for tularemia, France* Seroconversion was found between acute-phase and convalescent-phase serum samples from both patients. A conjunctival cotton swab sample from patient A and pretragal lymph node suppuration and biopsy samples from patient B were positive for F. tularensis by both real-time PCRs. A Francisella sp. strain was isolated from the conjunctival discharge from patient A at Auch Hospital and Grenoble Hospital laboratories. Cultures were grown in a BioSafety Level 3 laboratory at Grenoble University Hospital because results of both PCRs were positive. Cultures of specimens from patient B were negative. Both patients were infected with an F. tularensis subsp. holarctica strain. Infection was identified by PCR amplification and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene (fD1 and rP2 primers) and the intergenic spacer region (FTitsFw 5′-ACCACGGAGTGATTCATGACTG-3′ and FTitsRv 5′-TCTCAATTGATTTCTCTTCCTAAGG-3′ primers) from the strain isolated from patient A and directly from the lymph node biopsy specimen from patient B. Conjunctival inoculation of F. tularensis usually occurs by contact when a contaminated finger comes into contact with the eyes, e.g., after handling of an infected animal or tick (3,4), but the source of infection often remains undetermined, as for our 2 patients. Symptoms are not specific and correspond to Parinaud oculoglandular syndrome (1). Reported complications include keratitis, occasional corneal perforation, and lymph node suppuration; tonsillitis, cellulitis in nearby skin tissue, retinitis, erythema nodosum, and progression to systemic disease occur less frequently (3–7). A specific microbiologic diagnosis is needed for appropriate treatment because many microorganisms can cause Parinaud oculoglandular syndrome and clinical symptoms are not specific (1,8). Fluoroquinolones are now considered first-line treatment for tularemia; β-lactam antimicrobial agents are not effective (9). Oculoglandular tularemia is a painful disease with a short incubation period (3–5 days), and results of serologic tests of acute-phase samples are often negative (1,9). Isolation of F. tularensis is difficult and hazardous to laboratory personnel (1,9). PCR-based techniques may enable a more rapid diagnosis (1,9,10). Heating clinical samples before testing prevents laboratory-acquired infections. We report the use of real-time PCR for detection of F. tularensis from a conjunctival swab specimen. Many clinical laboratories are now equipped with this technology. Transport conditions of clinical samples (4°C, no transport medium, 24–48 h) are not restrictive. When compared with PCR, real-time PCR does not require post-PCR processing, enabling a faster turn-around time. Oculoglandular tularemia is a rare but underestimated disease. Real-time PCR detection of F. tularensis DNA from conjunctival swab suspensions now provides a rapid, noninvasive, sensitive, and specific diagnosis of oculoglandular tularemia. This assay enables early establishment of specific antimicrobial drug therapy and poses no risk of infection for laboratory staff.