New Guidelines for Severe Community-acquired Pneumonia

In 2023, the new European guidelines on severe community-acquired pneumonia, providing clinical practice recommendations for the management of this life-threatening infection, characterized by a high burden of mortality, morbidity, and costs for the society. This review article aims to summarize the principal evidence related to eight different questions covered in the guidelines, by also highlighting the future perspectives for research activity.

Retrospective analysis of bacteraemia due to extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales: the challenge of healthcare-associated infections

Objectives

Healthcare-associated bacteraemia is defined as bacteraemia diagnosed ≤48 h after hospital admission in patients recently exposed to healthcare procedures or settings. It differs from hospital-acquired bacteraemia, which is diagnosed >48 h after hospital admission. Healthcare-associated bacteraemia is reported increasingly, often due to resistant pathogens including extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producers, representing a challenge to empirical treatment. This study aimed to assess the appropriateness of empirical treatment for ESBL bacteraemia at the authors' centre, to perform a descriptive analysis according to the mode of infection acquisition (community-acquired, healthcare-associated, hospital-acquired), and to assess the risk factors for mortality.

Methods

A retrospective study on patients with ESBL bacteraemia was undertaken.

Results

In total, 129 consecutive cases of bacteraemia due to ESBL producers were included in this study. Compared with community- and hospital-acquired bacteraemia, healthcare-associated bacteraemia affected older patients (P=0.001) and patients with higher Charlson Comorbidity Index scores (P=0.007), and was more frequently associated with piperacillin-tazobactam resistance (P=0.025) and multi-drug resistance (P=0.026). Overall, ineffective empirical treatment was common (42%). Factors associated with 30-day mortality were septic shock [odds ratio (OR) 7.096, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.58-24.58], high Pitt score (OR 6.636, 95% CI 1.71-23.62) and unknown source of bacteraemia (OR 19.28, 95% CI 2.80-30.70).

Conclusions

Antimicrobial stewardship interventions focusing on both in-hospital and community settings are advocated to better manage healthcare-associated infections due to ESBL producers.

Elevated Troponin in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019: Possible Mechanisms

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic that has affected more than 1.8 million people worldwide, overwhelmed health care systems owing to the high proportion of critical presentations, and resulted in more than 100,000 deaths. Since the first data analyses in China, elevated cardiac troponin has been noted in a substantial proportion of patients, implicating myocardial injury as a possible pathogenic mechanism contributing to severe illness and mortality. Accordingly, high troponin levels are associated with increased mortality in patients with COVID-19. This brief review explores the available evidence regarding the association between COVID-19 and myocardial injury.