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Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is the second leading cause of nosocomial infection, and increases morbidity and mortality. It is currently classified into three groups: HAP not requiring artificial ventilation, HAP requiring artificial ventilation, and HAP acquired during artificial ventilation, also known as ventilator-acquired pneumonia (VAP). The latest guidelines for the management of HAP were published in 2016 (IDSA/ATS) and 2017 (ERS/ESCMID/ESICM and ALAT). The latest Spanish guidelines were published in Archivos de Bronconeumologia in 2011. American guidelines from 2016 and international guidelines from 2017 present their recommendations in a context of significantly increased resistance of both Gram-positive and, in particular, Gram-negative microorganisms to antibacterial agents. In 2019, SEPAR celebrated Pneumonia Year, and we felt that this was an appropriate time to update the guidelines published in 2011. Pulmonologists, intensive care specialists, infectious disease specialists, and methodology experts participated in drawing up this document, and agreed to use the following scheme: 1. Questions - Are the epidemiology and microbiology of HAP and VAP similar? - Are risk factors valid for predicting the etiology of HAP and VAP caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) microorganisms? - Are biomarkers effective for diagnosis and for guiding the duration of treatment? - What is the current algorithm for empirical treatment? - Does the duration of antibiotic treatment (7-8 days vs 14 days) affect patient outcome? - What is the most appropriate indication for the new antibiotics? 2. Each question contains the following sections: - Controversy - Evidence - Guidelines - Studies recommended for resolving controversy - A 100% consensus was reached by the experts for all guidelines. (C) 2020 SEPAR. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and community-acquired pneumonia are the most frequent infections of the lower respiratory tract in daily clinical practice. Antibiotic selection is a crucial component in its treatment and, in most cases, it is performed empirically. Scientific societies make therapeutic recommendations based on scientific evidence and / or expert recommendations that are of great help to clinicians. Beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones and macrolides are the most commonly used drugs for oral administration. From a practical point of view, there are three keys to the appropriate choice of oral antibiotic treatment, which are the effectiveness, safety and the ecological impact on the patient's microbiota, including the development of resistance, which will be assessed in depth in this review.

Background: The use of peripheral venous catheters (PVCs) has increased outside intensive care units, as has the rate of PVC-associated-bloodstream infection (PVC-BSI). PVCs are widely used in internal medicine departments (IMDs), but data on the incidence of PVC-BSI and its characteristics in IMDs are scarce. Aim: To assess the incidence of PVC-BSI episodes detected in IMDs in Spain. Methods: A one-year multi-centre prospective observational cohort study in 14 Spanish IMDs was undertaken. Adult patients admitted with at least one PVC and bacteraemia were included in the study. Demographic and clinical data were provided by local coordinators. Findings: Seventy episodes of PVC-BSI were recorded, representing an overall rate of 1.64 PVC-BSI episodes/1000 IMD admissions. The mean age of patients was 67.44 (standard deviation 16.72) years. It was estimated that 25.7% of PVCs were no longer necessary. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently isolated micro-organism (41.7%). Phlebitis was clinically evident in 44 (62.9%) episodes, and proved to be an independent predictor of catheter insertion in emergency departments (odds ratio 5.44). The crude and attributable mortality rates were 12.9% and 5.7%, respectively. Conclusions: PVCs carry a significant risk for bacteraemia in Spanish IMDs. Phlebitis is not always clinically evident in patients with bacteraemia in this population. The study findings support the need for educational and interventional preventive measures in both IMDs and emergency departments to reduce the rate of PVC-BSI and associated comorbidities, and costs. (C) 2017 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the main pathogen in bronchopulmonary infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. It can only be eradicated at early infection stages while reduction of its bacterial load is the therapeutic goal during chronic infection or exacerbations. Neonatal screening and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic knowledge has modified the management of CF-patients. A culture based microbiological follow-up should be performed in patients with no infection with P. aeruginosa. At initial infection, inhaled colistin (0,5-2 MU/tid), tobramycin (300 mg/bid) or aztreonam (75 mg/tid) with or without oral ciprofloxacin (15-20 mg/kg/bid, 2-3 weeks) are recommended. In chronic infections, treatment is based on continuous administration of colistin or with a 28-day on-off regimen with tobramycin or aztreonam. During mild-moderate exacerbations oral ciprofloxacin (2-3 weeks) can be administered while serious exacerbations must be treated with intravenous combination therapy (beta-lactam with an aminoglycoside or a fluoroquinolone). Future studies will support antibiotic rotation and/or new combination therapies. Epidemiological measures are also recommended to avoid new P. aeruginosa infections and "patient-to-patient transmission" of this pathogen. (C) 2014 SEPAR. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Amphotericin B in its lipid formulation continues to be the reference drug in the treatment of systemic fungal infections despite the time elapse since the development of this compound. The absence of fungal resistance, pharmacokinetics, and the better tolerability profile as compared with the remaining formulations of amphotericin B are sufficient reasons to justify its prominent therapeutic role. The liposome containing liposomal amphotericin B is very stable in relation to the presence of cholesterol and phospholipids are not thermolabile, so that free amphotericin B is almost inexistent (

This article reviews the clinical experience with tigecycline in the treatment of infections caused by microorganisms with prevalent resistance mechanisms among nosocomial microbiota, as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, multidrug- resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and enterobacteria producing extended spectrum beta-lactamases. Most of articles found in the literature describe the use of tigecycline in the treatment of severe infections (sepsis and septic shock, nosocomial pneumonia and ventilator-associated pneumonia...) produced by multidrug-resistant microorganisms, in patients with multiple comorbidities (admitted in ICU, with malignancies, transplants and/or immunodepressed...) and in many occasions after failures of previous antibiotic treatments. Favourable outcomes with tigecycline are reported in most articles. However, an accurate global assessment is difficult since, in addition to the described confounding factors, there are concomitant or sequential antibiotic treatments in several communications, and lack of relevant clinical (as comorbidities), microbiological (as susceptibility) and outcome (different criteria by different authors) data in others. More even, the described series are retrospective and lack of control groups. Nevertheless the usefulness of this revision is based on the fact that in daily clinical practice the use of tigecycline will increase, since epidemiology of specific hospital medical units shows multidrug resistance among nosocomial isolates and tigecycline can be one of the scarce available compounds active against multidrug-resistant strains/clones.

Vancomycin is currently the standard treatment of gram-positive bacteria inducted nosocomial infections. However its bactericidal activity may be affected by different factors related to its antibacterial activity, pharmacokinetic properties or the infecting bacteria. Based on these facts, this article reviews the clinical importance that bactericidal activity has against susceptible bacteria and the compromise of this activity due to inadequate pharmacodynamic parameter values. From the bacterial target perspective, the clinical importance of the compromised bactericidal activity due to the decreased susceptibility, tolerance, heteroresistance and resistance is reviewed. In addition the characteristics of an antimicrobial targeted for gram positive nosocomial infections as well as the degree of adhesion to them of the bactericidal antibiotic daptomycin are described.

A pooled analysis of all upper respiratory tract infection studies performed with cefditoren (CDN) was performed.Studies were prospective, comparative, multicentre and randomised. Comparators were penicillin V (pharyngitis) and cefuroxime or amoxicillin/clavulanate (sinusitis). A total of 1,322 patients were randomized, 1,241 included in intention-to-treat (ITT) and 1,010 in per-protocol populations (PP) in pharyngotonsillitis studies, and 1,819 randomized, 1,726 included in ITT and 1,589 in PP in acute sinusitis studies.No significant differences in pharyngitis clinical response were found (success rates: 89.4 % to 95.3 %). S. pyogenes eradication was higher with cefditoren at end of therapy (EOT) (90.4% vs. 82.7%; p=0.002) and follow-up (84.7% vs. 76.7%; p=0.008), although no statistically significant (p0.001). In both groups, clinical failures were significantly higher (p0.001) in patients showing S. pyogenes persistence than in those showing eradication (or =98.5% vs. 51.4 %). No differences in sinusitis clinical response were found between CDN and comparators both at EOT (80.2% vs. 84.8%) and at end of follow-up (71.2% vs. 77.4%).Cefditoren had similar point estimates of clinical efficacy to comparators in pharyngotonsillitis and sinusitis, and a tendency to higher S. pyogenes eradication in pharyngotonsillitis.