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Introduction: Tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBLN) is the most common infectious etiology of peripheral lymphadenopathy in adults, in Turkiye. This study aimed to identify the demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables that differentiate TBLN from non-tuberculous lymphadenitis (NTBLN), as well as the etiology of lymphadenopathy in adults., Methodology: Patients who were over 18 years old and were referred to the infectious disease outpatient clinics with complaints of swollen peripheral lymph nodes, and who underwent lymph node biopsy between 1 January 2010 and 1 March 2021, were included in this multicenter, nested case-control study., Results: A total of 812 patients at 17 tertiary teaching and research hospitals in Turkiye were included in the study. TBLN was the most frequent diagnosis (53.69%). The proportion of patients diagnosed with TBLN was higher among females; and among those who had a higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate, positive purified protein derivative test, and positive interferon-gamma release test result (p < 0.05). However, TBLN was less frequent among patients with generalized lymphadenopathy, bilateral lymphadenopathy, axillary lymphadenopathy, inguinal lymphadenopathy, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, leukocytosis, and moderately increased C reactive protein levels (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Identifying the variables that predict TBLN or discriminate TBLN from NTBLN will help clinicians establish optimal clinical strategies for the diagnosis of adult lymphadenopathy., Competing Interests: No Conflict of Interest is declared, (Copyright (c) 2024 Ercan Yenilmez, Duygu Özakınsel, Adem Köse, Yıldız Olçar, Zehra Duman, Mehmet R Ceylan, Fatma Bozkurt, Lütfiye N Altunal, Yakup Gezer, Ali Asan, Sibel Y Göktaş, Sümeyye Köşger, Kamil Mert, Derya Seyman, Salih Emre, Leman Karaağaç, Emine Parlak, Gülten Ünlü, İlknur E Yıldız, Nevin İnce, Şafak Kaya, Aysun Yalçı, Aziz A Hamidi, Semiha Ç Ekinci, Ersin Tural, Ali Mert, Şükran Köse.)

Background: Surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) is the peri-operative administration of antimicrobial agents. Compliance rates vary worldwide from 15% to 84.3%, with studies in Turkey not exceeding 35%. The aim of this multicenter study was to determine the rate of appropriate antibiotic class, timing, and duration as well as discharge prescriptions in Turkey. Thus, we aimed to determine the rate of full compliance with SAP procedures in our country Patients and Methods: This multicenter, prospective, observational, descriptive study was conducted in 47 hospitals from 28 provinces in seven different regions of Turkey. Patients over 18 years of age in all surgical units between June 6, 2022, and June 10, 2022, were included in the study. Results: Of the 7,978 patients included in the study, 332 were excluded from further analyses because of pre-existing infection, and SAP compliance analyses were performed on the remaining 7,646 cases. The antibiotic most commonly used for SAP was cefazolin (n = 4,701; 61.5%), followed by third-generation cephalosporins (n = 596; 7.8%). The most common time to start SAP was within 30 minutes before surgery (n = 2,252; 32.5%), followed by 30 to 60 minutes before surgery (n = 1,638; 23.6%). Surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis duration was <24 hours in 3,516 (50.7%) patients and prolonged until discharge in 1,505 (21.7%) patients. Finally, the actual proportion of patients compliant with SAP was 19% (n = 1,452) after omitting 4,458 (58.3%) patients who were prescribed oral antibiotic agents at discharge as part of a prolonged SAP. Conclusions: Surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis compliance rates are still very low in Turkey. Prolonged duration of SAP and especially high rate of antibiotic prescription at discharge are the main reasons for non-compliance with SAP.

Objectives: The aims of the study are to explore the morphological changes of olfactory bulb (OB) and olfactory sulcus in COVID-19 patients with associated olfactory dysfunction (OD) by measuring the OB volume (OBV) and olfactory sulcus depth (OSD) and to compare the measurement values with those of healthy individuals., Methods: Between March 2020 and January 2022, 31 consecutive hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 with anosmia and hyposmia who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging and 35 normosmic control individuals were retrospectively included in the study. Bilateral OBV and OSD were measured and shape of the OB was determined based on the consensus by a neuroradiologist and an otorrhynolaryngologist., Results: The mean measurements for the right and the left sides for OBV (38 ± 8.5 and 37.1 ± 8.4, respectively) and OSD (7.4 ± 0.1 and 7.4 ± 1.0 mm, respectively) were significantly lower in COVID-19 patients with OD than those in control group (for the right and the left sides mean OBV 56.3 ± 17.1 and 49.1 ± 13.5, respectively, and mean OSD 9.6 ± 0.8 and 9.4 ± 0.8 mm, respectively). Abnormally shaped OB (lobulated, rectangular, or atrophic) were higher in patient group than those of controls.For the optimal cutoff values, OBV showed sensitivity and specificity values of 90.32% and, 57.14%, for the right, and 87.1% and 62.86% for the left side, respectively (area under the curve, 0.819 and 0.780). Olfactory sulcus depth showed sensitivity and specificity values of 90.32% and 94.29%, for the right, and 96.77% and 85.71%, for the left side, respectively (area under the curve, 0.960 and 0.944)., Conclusions: Decrease in OBV and OSD measurements in COVID-19 patients with OD at the early chronic stage of the disease supports direct damage to olfactory neuronal pathways and may be used to monitor olfactory nerve renewal while returning back to normal function., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Existing literature about peritoneal tuberculosis (TBP) is relatively insufficient. The majority of reports are from a single center and do not assess predictive factors for mortality. In this international study, we investigated the clinicopathological characteristics of a large series of patients with TBP and determined the key features associated with mortality. TBP patients detected between 2010 and 2022 in 38 medical centers in 13 countries were included in this retrospective cohort. Participating physicians filled out an online questionnaire to report study data. In this study, 208 patients with TBP were included. Mean age of TBP cases was 41.4 ± 17.5 years. One hundred six patients (50.9%) were females. Nineteen patients (9.1%) had HIV infection, 45 (21.6%) had diabetes mellitus, 30 (14.4%) had chronic renal failure, 12 (5.7%) had cirrhosis, 7 (3.3%) had malignancy, and 21 (10.1%) had a history of immunosuppressive medication use. A total of 34 (16.3%) patients died and death was attributable to TBP in all cases. A pioneer mortality predicting model was established and HIV positivity, cirrhosis, abdominal pain, weakness, nausea and vomiting, ascites, isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in peritoneal biopsy samples, TB relapse, advanced age, high serum creatinine and ALT levels, and decreased duration of isoniazid use were significantly related with mortality (p < 0.05). This is the first international study on TBP and is the largest case series to date. We suggest that using the mortality predicting model will allow early identification of high-risk patients likely to die of TBP., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: To have country-wide information about multidrug resistance (MDR) in isolates from community-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTI) of Turkey, in terms of resistance rates and useful options., Methods: We used a geocode standard, nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS), and a total of 1588 community-acquired isolates of 20 centres from 12 different NUTS regions between March 2019 and March 2020 were analysed., Results: Of the 1588 culture growths, 1269 (79. 9%) were Escherichia coli and 152 (9.6%) were Klebsiella spp. Male sex, advancedage, and having two or more risk factors showed a statistically significant relation with MDR existence (p < 0.001, p: 0.014, p < 0.001, respectively) that increasing number of risk factors or degree of advancing in age directly affects the number of antibiotic groups detected to have resistance by pathogens. In total, MDR isolates corresponded to 36.1% of our CAUTI samples; MDR existence was 35.7% in E. coli isolates and 57.2% in Klebsiella spp. isolates. Our results did not show an association between resistance or MDR occurrence rates and NUTS regions., Discussion: The necessity of urine culture in outpatient clinics should be taken into consideration, at least after evaluating risk factorsfor antibacterial resistance individually. Community-acquired UTIs should be followed up time- and region-dependently. Antibiotic stewardship programmes should be more widely and effectively administrated.

The tetanus vaccine is not routinely given to Turkish adults. Protective tetanus immunity decreases with age. Health-care personnel (HCPs), who are role models in the field of health, are a target group in order to achieve a higher rate of tetanus vaccination in the community. This study was designed to evaluate attitudes and coverage regarding tetanus vaccination among a large sample of Turkish HCPs. This cross-sectional epidemiologic study was conducted from July to August 2019. A questionnaire was sent to HCPs using social media. Of the 10,644 HCPs included in the study, 65% were female. Overall, the tetanus vaccination coverage (TVC) among HCPs was 78.5% (95% CI: 77.7%-79.3%). TVC was significantly higher among physicians [83.4% (95% CI: 82%-84.6%); p < .001] compared with all other HCPs except nurses. Older age (≥40 years) and length of professional experience were significantly correlated with TVC. Of the 8353 HCPs who received tetanus vaccines during their lifetime, 73.03% received tetanus vaccination in the past 10 years. The self-vaccination rate for protection against tetanus was 13.1%. Acute injuries (25.42%) and pregnancy (23.9%) were the most common reasons for having the tetanus vaccine. One-third (33.7%) of HCPs did not have information about whether pregnant women could receive tetanus vaccinations. This survey study provided excellent baseline information about HCPs' coverage rates and attitudes regarding tetanus vaccination. The present results suggested that tetanus boosters for HCPs should be established as soon as possible, and revealed that the HCPs younger than 30 years with relatively less professional experience and all other HCPs except nurses and physicians should be identified as the target population for future intervention programs.

Long COVID is defined as symptoms related to various organs following COVID-19. There is currently very little information available about the prevalence of these symptoms and their long-term recovery time. The aim of this study was to describe the symptoms that persisted nine months after COVID-19. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Antalya, Türkiye, between November 1 and 30, 2020 on COVID-19 patients. Patients were contacted approximately nine months later by two infectious diseases physicians, and the questionnaire which included 27 symptoms was completed. Of the 390 patients who met the criteria, 329 agreed to participate in the study. Patients' average age was 48.9 ± 14.4 years, and 51.7% were male. 79.3% of the people still had at least one symptom at the end of the ninth month. The most common symptoms were weakness-fatigue (54.7%), forgetfulness (45.3%), effort loss (35.0%), sleep disturbance (34.3%), joint pain (27.4%), and hair loss (23.4%). According to analysis performed in terms of sex; hair loss, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, sore throat, loss of taste and smell were more common in women than in men (p= 0.042, p= 0.047, p= 0.050, p= 0.026, p= 0.016, p= 0.036, p= 0.027, respectively). Individuals aged 65 years and over had a significantly lower number of symptoms (p= 0.029) than all other age groups. Furthermore, the number of symptoms was higher in patients who used steroids (p= 0.049). This study is an important source of information on the long-term symptoms of COVID-19. Our results have shown that the symptoms associated with COVID-19 do not completely resolve even after nine months, which explains why long COVID requires continuous monitoring.

Materials and Methods: Adult patients administered colistin with and without LD for MDR Acinetobacter baumannii VAP/pneumonia in intensive care units (ICUs) in a tertiary teaching hospital between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2019 were included in this retrospective cohort study. The primary endpoint was an assessment of clinical and microbiological success between treatment groups. Secondary endpoints included 14- and 30-day mortality and development of nephrotoxicity., Results: A total of 101 patients were included (colistin with LD, n  = 57; colistin without LD, n  = 44). No significant difference in clinical success was observed between groups (73.7% versus 77.3%; p =0.670). In patients receiving colistin with LD, the microbiological success rate increased from 65.9% to 71.9%, but there was no statistically significantly difference ( p =0.510). In terms of using combination therapies with carbapeneme and/or tigecycline, there was no significant difference between treatment groups ( p =0.30). The rates of 14- and 30-day mortality were similar between groups. The colistin with LD group had a higher rate of nephrotoxicity compared to the other group (52.6% versus 20.5% p =0.001). The clinical and microbiological response times were found significantly higher in the colistin with LD group ( p =0.001; p =0.017)., Conclusion: Colistin with LD was associated with a higher risk of nephrotoxicity and was not related to clinical success, microbiological success, and prolonged survival. Randomized comparative studies are needed to confirm the efficacy of LD colistin regimen on MDR Acinetobacter infection., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest concerning the authorship and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2022 Ayşegül Seremet Keski̇n et al.)

Background/aim: As the experience has increased regarding SARS-CoV-2 in time, treatment trends have changed since the beginning of the pandemic. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of different treatment modalities for inpatients in a tertiary pandemic hospital in Antalya, Turkey., Materials and Methods: Individuals aged 18 years and above who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in PCR with presenting COVID-related radiological findings, hospitalized for at least 3 days, and completed follow-up between March 15, 2020 and November 30, 2020 were included in the study. Patients’ data were reviewed retrospectively. Seven treatment groups based on the single or combined use of hydroxychloroquine, oseltamivir, favipiravir, and remdesivir were formed and compared in terms of mortality, survival, length of hospital stay, need for intensive care, and mechanical ventilation., Results: A total of 321 patients were included in the study. The length of hospital stay, the need for intensive care, and mechanical ventilation were lower in Group 1 (hydroxychloroquine) and Group 2 (hydroxychloroquine + oseltamivir) compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). No significant difference was determined in survival between treatment groups. Analysis of prognostic factors affecting overall survival revealed that the need for intensive care and mechanical ventilation increased mortality [11.1 times (p < 0.001) and 6.48 times (p < 0.001), respectively]., Conclusion: No significant difference was determined between different treatment protocols in terms of their impact on survival. To end the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to develop highly efficient, rapid-acting, and orally available antiviral drugs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

Background: Exercise is believed to play an important role in maintaining functionality in patients with HIV and it is thought that researchers are increasingly interested in this field. We aimed to shed light on the historical development of research on HIV and exercise by utilizing visual mapping method., Methods: Overall, 1051 articles retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) core database were analyzed according to the publication year and language, number of issues, citation, country collaborations, co-citation networks and concept-topic trends by using CiteSpace software., Results: The United States played a key role in country collaborations, and had the highest citation burst. The most cited studies were meta-analysis studies. The studies gathered mainly around the clusters named "physical activity" and "metabolic abnormalities" meanwhile, the recent topics of research were heart failure, metabolism, comorbidity, Ethiopia, muscle, cardiovascular event and drug user., Conclusion: The reason why USA was found to be one of the key actors in the network is supposed to be the financial resources it can allocate for the studies conducted. It appears that the majority of the studies in the field dwell upon the impact of exercise on the physical parameters in HIV patients, whereas there are only a limited number of studies focusing on the impact of exercise on HIV-induced psychological and cognitive problems. Recent studies on neurocognitive impairment, on the other hand, are predictive of possible future popularity of such topics among researchers., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2021 Köse et al. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.)

Peripheral lymphadenopathy (LAP) is an important and common abnormal finding of the physical exam in general medical practice. We aimed to reveal the LAP etiology and demographic, clinical and laboratory variables that may be useful in the differential evaluation of LAP. This multicenter, nested case-control study including 1401 patients between 2014 and 2019 was conducted in 19 tertiary teaching and research hospitals from different regions in Turkey. The ratio of infectious, malign and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases was 31.3%, 5% and 0.3%, respectively. In 870 (62%) of patients had nonspecific etiology. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (n: 235, 16.8%) was the most frequent cause of LAP. The ratio of infective etiology of LAP was significantly lower in patients older than 65 years-old compared to younger patients with the rate of 66.67% and 83.84%, respectively (p 0.016, OR 0.386, 95% Cl 0.186-0.803). The probability of malign etiology was higher both in patients who are older than 45 years-old (p < 0.001, OR 3.23, 95% Cl 1.99-5.26) and older than 65 years-old (p 0.002, OR 3.36, 95% Cl 1.69-6.68). Age, localization and duration of LAP, leukocytosis, anemia, thrombocytopenia, CRP and sedimentation rate were important parameters to differentiate infections. Size of lymph node and splenomegaly in addition to the parameters above were useful parameters for differentiating malign from benign etiology. Despite the improvements in diagnostic tools, reaching a definite differential diagnosis of lymphadenopathy is still challenging. Our results may help clinicians to decide in which cases they need an aggressive workup and set strategies on optimizing the diagnostic approach of adulthood lymphadenopathy., (© 2021. Società Italiana di Medicina Interna (SIMI).)

Objective: To determine the clinical characteristics of patients with cystic echinococcosis and the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches used., Methods: This is a multicentre, retrospective study. Patients from six centres who were diagnosed with hydatid cysts in the last five years were evaluated., Results: The mean age was 45.4±17.4 years, and 54.7% were female. The most common complaints were abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and the most common physical examination finding was abdominal tenderness. Most patients were diagnosed within 2-6 months. Anaemia and eosinophilia were the most common laboratory findings. The liver was the most commonly involved organ (n=153, 90%). One hundred twenty-five (73.5%) patients underwent ultrasonography. The largest cyst was present in the liver at stage four, and its diameter was 160x170 mm. The rates of the negative, grey zone and positive results were 9.4%, 8.8% and 81.8%. Surgery was more common (n=72, 42.4%) than puncture, aspiration, injection, and re-aspiration treatments (n=14, 8.2%). Of the 47 patients who had a recurrence, 22 (46.8%) had a history of hydatid cyst treatment., Conclusion: Hydatid disease, which is endemic in our country, is diagnosed at a late stage. In terms of disease diagnosis, serological tests may be misleading. It was not possible to compare the success rates according to the treatment choices because of the lack of randomisation of stages and sizes of the lesions.

The aim of this study was to search for any relations between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the development of osteomyelitis and the need for amputation in patients with diabetic foot infection (DFI). All data included DFI patients who were hospitalized in our Infectious Diseases Clinic between 2012 and 2015 and who were classified according to International Classification Disease Code System. 75 patients were analyzed in the study. The DFI patients were stratified into 3 groups of whom had amputation procedure, whom had only debridement/drainage procedure and whom had any surgery procedure. Sidac post hoc analysis was used to perform the effects of NLR, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and glycosylated hemoglobin on the surgery procedure status. The DFI patients were also stratified into two another separate group for another analysis to search for the effect of NLR values on the development of osteomyelitis. The mean value of NLR in the amputated patients' group (15.7±10.3 was significantly higher than those with debridement procedure (9.9±5.6) and those without any surgery (6.0±2.8) (P=0.001). NLR values were also found significantly higher in patients with osteomyelitis in the second analysis (P=0.004). In this study, the NLR was found to have a predictive value on the development of osteomyelitis and on the progression to amputation in patients with DFI.

Caspase-associated recruitment domain-9 (CARD9) deficiency is an autosomal-recessive primary immunodeficiency with genetic defects in Th17 immunity marked by susceptibility to recurrent and invasive Candida infections. We present a case of relapsing Candida albicans meningoencephalitis over 1-year period despite appropriate antifungal therapy. We detected a homozygous p.Q295X mutation in CARD9 as well as a defective interleukin-17 and interferon gamma synthesis in Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSpot tests. We achieved complete clinical remission, and improvement of interleukin-17 secretion with subcutaneous granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) treatment.

Malaria caused by P. falciparum, is endemic in tropical and subtropical areas but is seen as sporadic cases in our country. A patient, early diagnosed and succesfully treated with antimalarial drug administration and a patient, with severe clinical manifestations and succesfully treated with antimalarial medication as well as Erythrocyte Exchange Transfusion (EET), who were not applied chemoprophylaxis are presented. The cases are presented in order to emphasize on the necessity of giving education to the people going to endemic areas from our country for work or travel and on the necessity of taking chemoprophylaxis and to take attention that EET may be preffered in the therapy of severe malaria cases.

Background: Pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis (PVO) is a severe infection that requires prolonged antimicrobial therapy and/or surgical interventions. Limited data are available on the safety and clinical efficacy of tigecycline in PVO. The objective of this study was to describe the clinical outcomes of patients treated with tigecycline for culture-negative PVO that was unresponsive to empirical antibiotic therapy including intravenous ampicillin-sulbactam plus ciprofloxacin or ampicillin-sulbactam alone., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 15 patients with culture-negative PVO from 2009 through 2014. The patients received tigecycline as secondary empirical therapy, after not responding to the first empirical therapy. Clinical success was defined as recovery from symptoms and normalization of laboratory parameters at the end of therapy. Continued clinical success at 24 weeks after the end of the therapy was defined as sustained clinical success., Results: Tigecycline treatment was completed in 14 patients and discontinued in 1 due to severe nausea and vomiting. The mean age of the patients was 67.7 years (range 58-77 years), and 57.1% (8/14) were women. In all, 78.6% (11/14) of patients had risk factors for probable resistant staphylococcal and gram-negative infections such as diabetes mellitus, presence of hemodialysis catheters, and prior antibiotic usage. The average duration of tigecycline treatment was 8.3 weeks (range 6-11 weeks). Sustained clinical success was obtained in all patients., Conclusions: Tigecycline should be considered as an alternative agent for the treatment of PVO in selected patients due to microbiological activity against resistant gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

The molecular mechanisms and pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection are unclear. Innate immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells are responsible from molecular mechanism of CHC. NK cell cytotoxicity such as TRAIL expression is important pathway for viral clearance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between HCV RNA and sTRAIL levels during the first 12 weeks of Peg-IFNα and ribavirin treatment. Twelve treatment naive patients with CHC treated with Peg-INFα and ribavirin were included in this study. Circulating sTRAIL and HCV RNA levels were measured at baseline, 4th and 12th week of treatment and their correlation was investigated. sTRAIL and HCV RNA levels decreased gradually with Peg-INFα plus ribavirin treatment. The differences were significant between day 0, 4th week and 12th week of treatment. The expression of sTRAIL was correlated with HCV RNA level at baseline, at 4th and 12th week of treatment (P = 0.021 P = 0.012, P = 0.001 respectively). IFN binds to its receptor on the infected hepatocyte surface during Peg-IFNα and ribavirin treatment. So the polarized phenotype of NK cell is not displayed and NK cell cytotoxicity such as TRAIL expression is blocked. We suggest that the decreased level of circulating sTRAIL may reflect increased binding to its ligand expressed on hepatocyte and decreased TRAIL production under the influence of Peg-IFNα plus ribavirin treatment. Therefore TRAIL may be probably a immunologically predictive factor such as HCV RNA during treatment.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria have become a growing problem limiting therapeutic options. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and microbiological efficacy of amikacin treatment in adult patients with lower UTIs due to ESBL-producing Escherichia coli (Ec) or Klebsiella pneumonia (Kp). We conducted a retrospective study of 36 outpatients aged >18 years with dysuria or problems with frequency or urgency in passing urine; pyuria and a positive urine culture (10(5) cfu/ml) for ESBL producing Ec or Kp which is also resistant to nitrofurantoin, fosfomycin, quinolones and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, between January 2013 and February 2014. Patients received intramuscular amikacin 15 mg/kg/day for 10 days. Clinical success was defined as disappearance of symptoms. Bacteriological success was defined as sterile control urine cultures. 58.3% of patients were female. Age range was 18-89 years. All of the patients had at least one complicating factor. 77.8% of the isolates were E. coli. Clinical success rate was 97.2%. Overall bacteriological success rates were 91.7% on the 3 day of treatment, 97.1% at the end of the treatment and 94.1% on the 7-10 days after treatment. After 28-32 days following the treatment, reinfection was found in 12% whereas relapse was not determined. Nephrotoxicity was developed in one patient. The clinicians should keep in mind that amikacin treatment is an efficient and safe alternative treatment option before the carbapenem treatment especially in patients with lower UTIs caused by ESBL-producing Ec or Kp that are resistant to all oral antibiotics., (Copyright © 2014 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Pro-inflammatory factors regulated by TRAIL in vivo may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for diseases as diverse as infection, autoimmunity and allergy. In this study we aimed to investigate the relationship between IFN treatment response, HCV viral load and sApo 2L levels. Eleven HCV-treatment naive HCV-infected patients were treated with pegIFN alfa-2a. Intensive serum circulating Apo 2L levels were monitored at study visits on day 0 (pretreatment), and in weeks 4, 6 and 12. HCV-RNA and sApo 2L levels decreased gradually with PegIF-alfa 2 treatment and the differences were significant between day 0 and week 4 (p 0.001, p 0.005 and p 0.01, p 0.005 respectively); between day 0 and week 12 (p 0.001, p 0.005 and p 0.001, p 0.000 respectively); between weeks 6 and 12 (p 0.01, p 0.05 and p 0.01, p 0.05 respectively). We suggest that decreased levels of circulating Apo 2L may reflect its increased binding to its ligand expressed on hepatocytes or lymphocytes under the influence of PegIFN treatment.

Background: Daily chlorhexidine (CHG) bathing has been used as a precaution to reduce the rate of healthcare-associated bloodstream infections (HA-BSI). The application frequency of CHG bathing remains unclear, this procedure has been implemented daily by this time. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of weekly whole-body douche with CHG shower gel on rates of HA-BSI., Methods: We conducted a prospective intervention trial in medical, surgical, and anesthesiology intensive care units (ICUs) in a tertiary teaching hospital from June 2011 to November 2012. This study included three periods. During the first period, patients received a daily bed bath by wiping with water and soap. In the second period patients were given a weekly douche with water and soap; in the third period patients were given a weekly douche with CHG shower gel. The rates of HA-BSI were compared between the three periods using Poisson regression analysis., Results: The central line-associated bloodstream infection rates did not decline significantly between periods (p = 0.76). The laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection (LCBSI) rates in the first, second, and third periods were 7.1, 4, and 1.7, respectively. The LCBSI rates were reduced 43.7% from the first period to the second period (p = 0.03). In addition, there was a 57.5% reduction in LCBSI rates between the second and third periods (p < 0.001). Interestingly, the major decline (76.1%) was determined from the first to the third period (p < 0.002)., Conclusions: Weekly douche with CHG shower gel significantly reduced LCBSI rates. Further studies are needed to validate the clinical impact of different intervals of CHG bathing.

Background: CD200 (OX-2) is a novel immune-effective molecule, existing in a cell membrane-bound form, as well as in a soluble form in serum (s OX-2), which acts to regulate inflammatory and acquired immune responses., Material and Methods: We planned this study to evaluate the sOX-2 levels of type 2 diabetic foot (group B), and compare it with that of healthy controls (group A). The patient group had the following values: DM period: 27.9±10.3 year [mean ±SD], HbA1c: 9.52±2.44% [mean ±SD]., Results: Blood samples for sCD200 measurement were always taken in the morning between 8 and 10 A.M.. The results were reported as means of duplicate measurements. Concentrations of sOX-2 in the serum samples were quantified using an ELISA kit. Serum hs-CRP levels were measured using an hs-CRP assay kit. The sOX-2 level in group B was 173.8±3.1 and in group A was 70.52±1.2 [p<0.0001). In subgroup analysis of T2DM-DFI patients, we noticed that sOX-2 levels were higher in WGS (Wagner grading system) I and II patients than in WGS III and IV patients. The HbA1c, BUN, creatinine, hs-CRP levels, and sedimentation rates were higher in the patient group (p<0.0001, p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.005, and p<0.0001, respectively)., Conclusions: We suggest that there are vascular, immunologic, and neurologic components in DFI, whereas autoimmune diseases and inflammatory skin disorders have only an immunologic component. This is possibly evidence of a pro-inflammatory effect seen in DFI as a vascular complication.

Objectives: To describe an endocarditis outbreak affecting three patients due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection post coronary angiography performed in the Cardiovascular Surgery and Cardiology Medical Center of a private hospital., Methods: After recognition of an infection cluster within a onemonth period, the outbreak was reported to Antalya Department of Health and a broad investigation was initiated in order to determine the most probable cause and/or source of nosocomial pseudomonal endocarditis. Patient data were obtained by medical record review as well as interviews with patients or their next of kin. Thirty-six surveillance samples for P. aeruginosa were collected from various locations within the coronary angiography unit. The outbreak research team reviewed the private hospital's Cardiovascular Surgery and Cardiology Medical Center's infection control procedures. The epidemiology of P. aeruginosa was studied through analysis of phenotypic markers, including antimicrobial sensitivity profiles., Results: The infection control audit revealed multiple breaches of infection control procedures. Only 1/36 environmental samples yielded, which was isolated from a radio-opaque solution within an angiography injector pump. P. aeruginosa from the radio-opaque solution had an identical antimicrobial susceptibility pattern to the strain isolated from patients. Both samples were susceptible to all antipseudomonal agents. This outbreak could have been successfully controlled by instituting combined infection control measures., Conclusions: This outbreak emphasizes the important of adherence to infection control standards and practices for cardiac catheterization, as well as the need for closer collaboration between the Infection Control Committee and coronary angiography personnel.

Background: The aim of this study was to delineate mortality indicators in pneumococcal meningitis with special emphasis on therapeutic implications., Methods: This retrospective, multicenter cohort study involved a 15-year period (1998-2012). Culture-positive cases (n=306) were included solely from 38 centers., Results: Fifty-eight patients received ceftriaxone plus vancomycin empirically. The rest were given a third-generation cephalosporin alone. Overall, 246 (79.1%) isolates were found to be penicillin-susceptible, 38 (12.2%) strains were penicillin-resistant, and 22 (7.1%) were oxacillin-resistant (without further minimum inhibitory concentration testing for penicillin). Being a critical case (odds ratio (OR) 7.089, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.230-15.557) and age over 50 years (OR 3.908, 95% CI 1.820-8.390) were independent predictors of mortality, while infection with a penicillin-susceptible isolate (OR 0.441, 95% CI 0.195-0.996) was found to be protective. Empirical vancomycin use did not provide significant benefit (OR 2.159, 95% CI 0.949-4.912)., Conclusions: Ceftriaxone alone is not adequate in the management of pneumococcal meningitis due to penicillin-resistant pneumococci, which is a major concern worldwide. Although vancomycin showed a trend towards improving the prognosis of pneumococcal meningitis, significant correlation in statistical terms could not be established in this study. Thus, further studies are needed for the optimization of pneumococcal meningitis treatment., (Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

We describe a case of septic arthritis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in an immunocompetent patient following intra-articular ozone injection into the knee. To the best of our knowledge, and after considering the current literature,we believe this case is unique as no other reports of septic arthritis caused by P. aeruginosa following intra-articular ozone injection has been made.

Transmission of pathogens from the hands of health care workers (HCWs) is the main cause of nosocomial infections, and hand hygiene is the single most important procedure to prevent it. At present, little is known about the adherence of HCWs to hand hygiene procedures in hematology units, where the patients are at high risk for acquiring hospital infections. In a prospective observational study, two observers monitored the hand hygiene compliance of HCWs in a hematology unit during 30-min observation periods distributed randomly during the daytime over 2 months. The prevalence of compliance with hand hygiene was 26% on 638 observed occasions. The noncompliance was higher among nurses [odds ratio (OR) 3.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.85-6.70] and other HCWs (OR 1.72, 95% CI 0.98-3.02) compared to physicians. The compliance rate differed from 4 to 60% depending on the activity. The lowest compliance rate (4%) was observed before patient care and the highest (60%) was after insertion of invasive devices. When we classified the occasions for hand hygiene into 'before' and 'after' activities, the compliance rates were 9 and 36%, respectively (OR 5.6, 95% CI 3.4-9.0). In conclusion, noncompliance with hand hygiene was high in this hematology unit, especially among nurses and before activities. Variations with the type of HCW and activity suggest that targeted educational programs and feedback control may be useful., (Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.)