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Abstract Introduction Ear piercing is a common practice among Korean adolescents and young women and usually is performed by nonmedical personnel, sometimes under suboptimal hygienic conditions. Consequently, ear piercing has been associated with various infectious complications, including fatal infective endocarditis. We report a case of infective endocarditis that was caused by community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus after ear piercing and that was accompanied by a noticeable facial rash. Case presentation A 29-year-old Korean woman underwent ear piercing six days before hospitalization. On admission, she had fever, erythematous maculopapular rashes on her face, signs of generalized emboli, vegetation in her mitral valve, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus bacteremia. On the basis of the blood culture results, she was treated with vancomycin in combination with gentamicin. On day six of hospitalization, a rupture of the papillary muscle of her mitral valve developed, and emergency cardiac surgery replacing her mitral valve with a prosthetic valve was performed. After eight weeks of antibiotic therapy, she was treated successfully and discharged without significant sequelae. Conclusions Numerable cases of body piercing-related infective endocarditis have been reported, and since ear piercing is commonplace nowadays, the importance of risk recognition cannot be overemphasized. In our report, a patient developed infective endocarditis that was caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus after ear piercing and that was accompanied by an interesting feature, namely facial rash.

In 2016, the Sepsis-3 Task Force introduced a simpler algorithm, named quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment, for patients in a non-intensive care unit setting. Objectives: The study was designed to investigate the predictive performance of quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment for intensive care unit admission using the area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic specifically in patients of clinically diagnosed urinary tract infection in the emergency department and to compare its performance with that of systemic inflammatory response syndrome and sequential (sepsis-related) organ failure assessment. Methods: Retrospective analyses on adult urinary tract infection patients presenting to the emergency department between June 2015 and May 2016 were undertaken. We compared patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit to those who were not. Results: Of the total 220 urinary tract infection patients, 20 (9.1%) were hospitalized to the intensive care unit and there was no in-hospital mortality. Independent predictors for intensive care unit admission using multiple logistic regression were HCO3− and creatinine. The area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic values of systemic inflammatory response syndrome, quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment, and sequential (sepsis-related) organ failure assessment were 0.759, 0.752, and 0.824 on intensive care unit admission, respectively, and there was no significant difference between any of them. Interestingly, adding HCO3− to quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment improved the predictive performance compared to quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment alone (AUC: 0.844 vs 0.752, respectively; p < 0.05), and a cut-off value of 20 mmol/L for HCO3− yielded the largest area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic value. Moreover, when lowering the cut-off value of quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment to 1 and combining to HCO3−, its sensitivity was increased from 22% to 90%. Conclusion: Among patients presenting to the emergency department with clinically diagnosed urinary tract infection, the use of a new model, which is adding HCO3− to quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment with a lowered cut-off value of 1, resulted in greater predictive performance regarding intensive care unit admission than original quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Bartonella infection is an emerging cause of acute febrile illness; however, its significance has not been thoroughly investigated. We studied the antibody specific to Bartonella henselae in patients with various febrile diseases in Korea. Materials and Methods: A total of 177 patients with acute febrile illness who were managed at the Inha University Hospital from February 2012 to January 2013 were evaluated with an in-house immunofluorescent antibody test to detect B. henselae immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody. The clinical features of the patients included fever of undetermined origin (n = 88 patients), lymphadenopathy (n = 28), febrile rash (n = 17), respiratory infection (n = 12), aseptic meningitis (n = 7), intra-abdominal infection (n = 5), arthritis (n = 4), and other conditions (n = 16). We reviewed the medical records of these patients and collected demographic data, clinical features, and their histories of animal exposure. Results: Among the 177 patients with acute febrile illness, 23.7% (42/177) had elevated levels of IgG antibodies to B. henselae (≥1:160). Of these seropositive patients, 32.4% (12/37) had contact with animals and had developed arthralgia (29.5%), headache (25%), or lymphadenopathy (15.9%). Seven (16.7%) of the 42 patients had higher IgG titers (≥1:640). Among them, four patients presented fourfold increase/decrease of IgG in convalescent serum. According to the clinical diagnosis, the antibody positivity rates were as follows: 24/88 with undifferentiated fever, 8/28 with lymphadenopathy, 4/17 with febrile rash, 2/12 with respiratory infection, 2/7 with aseptic meningitis, and 2/16 with other illnesses. Conclusions: There was high prevalence of B. henselae in patients with undifferentiated fever in Korea, for which further research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Postintubation tracheal rupture is rare, but serious. Emergency intubation is often conducted during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the risk of postintubation tracheal rupture can be increased during CPR. We describe here a case of postintubation tracheal rupture in a 65-year-old female who was transferred from another hospital after CPR. Postintubation tracheal rupture in this case is thought to have been related to malposition of the endotracheal tube (ETT), elevation of the intratrachea pressure due to chest compression, and an overinflated cuff. However, the most important factor is considered to be the overinflated cuff, which is often caused by manual palpation. Therefore, emergency physicians should consider using a manometer to check the cuff pressure of the ETT, even during CPR. When spontaneous circulation is restored, the pressure of the cuff must be measured with a manometer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis in young adults. University students, especially those living in dormitories, have been known to be at increased risk of meningococcal disease. We performed a longitudinal study to determine the carriage rates of N. meningitidis and the changes thereof. Materials and Methods: We recruited Inha University freshmen who were, at that time, admitted to a student dormitory. A pharyngeal swab was taken from all participant who were also asked to complete a questionnaire. This was repeated four weeks later. Results: A total of 136 students were enrolled at the first culture. After four weeks, 128 students were enrolled, including 106 re-participants. The overall carriage rates changed from 11.8% to 14.1%. In analysis of the 106 re-participants, "visiting to pubs" was associated with carriage of N. meningitis for both the first (p=0.047) and second cultures (p=0.026). Serogroup C was found to be the most frequent serogroup (5 isolates), while 3 isolates were found from serogroup B. The most prevalent PorA types were P1.22,14-6 (4 isolates) and P1.19,15 (3 isolates). The DNA sequences of PorA VR2 were changed in 2 students during prolonged carriage. Conclusion: The meningococcal carriage rate among first year university students who resided in a dormitory did not significantly increase over 4-week interval between cultures, which is markedly different from those reported in Western studies. Close social contact appeared to be related with carriage. Our data also revealed diversity in PorA types, suggesting the possibility of rapid mutation of the PorA gene during the 4-week interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infection rate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has increased worldwide and MRSA bacteremic pneumonia is associated with a high mortality rate. This is a retrospective study conducted at a university hospital in Korea involving adult patients diagnosed as bacteremic pneumonia caused by S. aureus in the ED between January 2009 and December 2019. We compared MRSA bacteremic pneumonia patients (n = 56) to methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteremic pneumonia patients (n = 49). Our study showed that that underlying hypertension (OR = 5.68; 95% CI = 2.00–16.11; p = 0.001) and cerebrovascular disease (OR = 3.54; 95% CI = 1.06–11.75; p = 0.038), recent intravenous therapy within 1 month (OR = 8.38; 95% CI = 2.88–24.38; p = 0.0001), and pleural effusion on chest radiography (OR = 5.77; 95% CI = 1.79–18.57; p = 0.003) were independent risk factors for MRSA bacteremic pneumonia presenting to the ED. Although MRSA infection has been more frequently derived from the community than before, inappropriate empiric antibiotic treatment was overwhelmingly observed in the majority of patients in our study. Considering the resistance of MRSA to the typical empiric regimen prescribed for community-acquired pneumonia, emergency physicians should pay attention to the predictors for MRSA bacteremic pneumonia including pleural effusion on chest radiography when deciding on the appropriate empiric antimicrobial therapy for pneumonia patients in the ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of airplanes is becoming increasingly frequent worldwide. However, although the number of flight passengers is steadily increasing, there is no comprehensive database that accurately reflects the frequency of emergency medical events that occur in airports. We evaluated the characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients who had emergency medical events at an airport. We retrospectively reviewed cases of patients who had emergency medical events at International Airport between May 2013 and April 2018. A comparative analysis was conducted on gender, age, disease, temperament, and average length of stay between patients visiting the airport and the general population visiting the emergency room (ED). Among the 258,823 patients who visited our ED during the study period. A total of 846 patients (0.3%) were transferred from the airport; the proportion of men was 59.3%, the mean age of the subjects was 43.7 ± 20.1 years. The admission and mortality rates of the patients in the airport group were relatively higher (35.1% and 2.6%, respectively) than that of those in the direct ED visit group (21.6% and 0.5%, respectively). Abdominal disease was the most common medical problem, and the most common causes of death were sudden cardiac arrest and acute myocardial infarction. Future prospective studies are necessary to affirm its findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined the characteristics of patients who attempted suicide in the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: We compared data from patients in the emergency department following suicide attempts between January 2018 and December 2021. The patients were categorized into two groups: "pre-COVID-19" and "during COVID-19" pandemic., Results: The findings revealed an increasing trend of suicide attempts during the study period. Suicide attempts were reported at 1,107 before the COVID-19 pandemic and 1,356 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients who attempted suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic were younger (38.0±18.5 years vs. 40.7±18.4 years, P<0.01), had a smaller proportion of men (36% vs. 44%, P<0.01), and had fewer medical comorbidities (20.2% vs. 23.6%, P<0.05). The group during the COVID-19 pandemic reported better hygiene conditions (50.5% vs. 40.8%, P<0.01) and lower alcohol consumption (27.7% vs. 37.6%, P<0.01). Patients who attempted suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic had higher rates of use of psychiatric medications and previous suicide attempts. The most common reasons for the suicide attempt were unstable psychiatric disorders (38.8%), poor interpersonal relationships (20.5%), and economic difficulties (14.0%). Drug poisoning (44.1%) was the most common method of suicide attempts. Subgroup analysis with patients who attributed their suicide attempts to COVID-19 revealed a higher level of education (30.8%) and employment status (69.2%), with economic difficulties (61.6%) being the primary cause of suicide attempts., Conclusion: These findings suggest that the prolonged duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on social and economic factors have influenced suicide attempts.

A comprehensive understanding of the geographic distribution of the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) complex is necessary due to increasing transboundary movement and cross-reactivity of serological tests. This review was conducted to identify the geographic distribution of the TBEV complex, including TBE virus, Alkhurma haemorrhagic fever virus, Kyasanur forest disease virus, louping-ill virus, Omsk haemorrhagic fever virus, and Powassan virus. Published reports were identified using PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library. In addition to TBEV complex case-related studies, seroprevalence studies were also retrieved to assess the risk of TBEV complex infection. Among 1406 search results, 314 articles met the inclusion criteria. The following countries, which are known to TBEV epidemic region, had conducted national surveillance studies: Austria, China, Czech, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, and Slovakia. There were also studies/reports on human TBEV infection from Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Netherland, and Turkey. Seroprevalence studies were found in some areas far from the TBEV belt, specifically Malaysia, Comoros, Djibouti, and Kenya. Kyasanur forest disease virus was reported in southwestern India and Yunnan of China, the Powassan virus in the United States, Canada, and east Siberia, Alkhurma haemorrhagic fever virus in Saudi Arabia and east Egypt, and Louping-ill virus in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and east Siberia. In some areas, the distribution of the TBEV complex overlaps with that of other viruses, and caution is recommended during serologic diagnosis. The geographic distribution of the TBEV complex appears to be wide and overlap of the TBE virus complex with other viruses was observed in some areas. Knowledge of the geographical distribution of the TBEV complex could help avoid cross-reactivity during the serologic diagnosis of these viruses. Surveillance studies can implement effective control measures according to the distribution pattern of these viruses., Competing Interests: None