[Imogam rage prescription assessment in the rabies prophylaxis center of Poitiers]

OBJECTIVES

Imogam rage (IgR) prescriptions were assessed in the rabies prophylaxis centre of Poitiers (France).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

All medical records closed between January 1 and June 1, 2005 were retrospectively analyzed. An infectious disease specialist examined the pertinence of IgR prescription according to WHO references adapted to the epidemiological situation by the Pasteur Institute French rabies center. The indicator used was the proportion of patients treated by IgR among all patients treated by vaccination or vaccination with IgR.

RESULTS

During the study period, 69 medical records have bewereen analyzed: 48 (70%) patients were treated including 22 (46%) with IgR. Imogam rage indication was not appropriate for 21 (95%) patients (one contact with a rodent, 8 low gravity contact, 12 contacts with a French animal) that is to say 86 IgR vials. The direct cost was 8,032 euros.

CONCLUSION

This assessment permitted to underline an overprescription of IgR, to adapt guidelines to the local situation, and to improve care quality by adaptating medical record files, improving the prescription decisional tree and the local guidelines, and improving the training of interns.

Optimal duration of antibiotic therapy in vertebral osteomyelitis

OBJECTIVES

To compare the risk of relapse of vertebral osteomyelitis (VO), according to the duration of antibiotic therapy (< or =6 weeks versus >6 weeks).

METHODS

We performed a 10-year retrospective study to assess the risk of VO relapse and to verify that this risk was not enhanced in patients who received 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy (Group 1) as compared with those who received a longer treatment (Group 2). VO was diagnosed based on clinical manifestations, magnetic resonance imaging and/or computed tomography findings, and isolation of a pyogenic organism in blood cultures and/or a discovertebral biopsy. Relapse was diagnosed based on isolation of the same organism in blood cultures and/or a discovertebral biopsy. Outcome was evaluated 6 months post-treatment and in December 2004.

RESULTS

Group 1 included 36 patients (mean age, 58 +/- 15 years) and Group 2 included 84 patients (mean age, 67 +/- 15 years) (P = 0.003). Clinical data and microorganisms were comparable in the 2 groups. In the first 6 months, 6 (5%) patients died (Group 1, n = 2; Group 2, n = 4), and 5 (4%) in Group 2 relapsed, 2 with recurrent VO and 3 with recurrent bacteremia. In 2004, 91 patients were evaluated (mean follow-up, 40.6 +/- 31 months): 77 (85%) were cured, 13 (14%) died (Group 1, n = 3; Group 2, n = 10), 1 had VO due to a different microorganism (Group 2), and no long-term relapses occurred.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that antibiotic therapy of VO could be safely shortened to 6 weeks without enhancing the risk of relapse.

Botulism in Patients Who Inhale Cocaine: The First Cases in France

We describe 2 cases of mild botulism in patients who inhaled cocaine. Botulism, though rare, is increasing in incidence among illicit drug users. To our knowledge, these are the first cases of botulism in illicit drug users in France. Clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon; botulism should be considered in illicit drug users with neurological symptoms.

Concomitant disseminated herpes simplex virus type 2 infection and varicella zoster virus primoinfection in a pregnant woman

We report the first case of a HSV and VZV coinfection during pregnancy. VZV infection was diagnosed by a seroconversion and PCR. HSV 2 infection was diagnosed by cell culture. The mother and the newborn received no treatment and did not develop any complication. This case report highlights the need for increased surveillance of pregnant women with herpes virus infections.

[Imported malaria: prevention should strengthened]

INTRODUCTION

The risk of acquiring malaria infection can largely be prevented by the regular use of chemoprophylactic drugs combined with protective measures against mosquito bites. In a retrospective study we had for aim to evaluate the compliance to malaria chemoprophylaxis in patients presenting with malaria infection.

METHODS

We analyzed the compliance to the recommended malaria chemoprophylaxis of French travelers hospitalized in a department of infectious diseases because of malaria infection, between January 1999 and December 2003.

RESULTS

Eighty-five patients, with a mean age of 34.1 years (16-65) were treated for malaria infection. Seventy-seven were due to Plasmodium falciparum. The outcome was favorable for all patients, despite four severe accesses. Forty-six patients (54%) did not take any chemoprophylaxis (CP), 19 (22%) had an inadequate CP for the risk, 13 (15%) badly complied with intermittent intake of CP and seven (8%) complied well with the recommended malaria CP. Among the 85 patients, 27 (32%) had come to the travelers' consultation and been given recommendations and a recommended malaria CP prescription before traveling.

CONCLUSION

These results confirm that the majority of imported malaria cases is a consequence of bad compliance to CP. Understanding user profiles and factors predicting non-compliance may help us to improve pretravel counseling, thereby reducing the risk for travelers to acquire malaria infection.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in patients with hematologic malignancies: a descriptive study

Objectives. A retrospective multicentric study was conducted over a five-year period to evaluate the clinical and laboratory characteristics and outcome of patients with proven Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) complicating hematologic malignancies.Results. The study included 60 HIV-negative patients with 18 non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma (30%), 13 chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (21.7%), 10 acute leukemia (16.6%), 5 multiple myeloma (8.3%), 4 Waldenström's diseases (6.6%), 4 chronic myeloid leukemia (6.6%), 3 myelodysplasia (5%), 2 Hodgkin's diseases (3.3%) and 1 thrombopenia. Bronchoalveolar lavage was diagnostic in all patients. Forty-nine patients received cytotoxic drugs (81.7%), 25 (41.7%) a long-term corticotherapy and 15 (25%) underwent bone marrow transplantation. Twenty-seven patients (45%) required admission in the intensive care unit, 35 (58.3%) received an adjunctive corticotherapy and 18 mechanical ventilation (30%). Twenty patients (33.3%) died of PCP. A previous long-term corticotherapy (p=0.04), high respiratory (p=0.05) and pulse rates (p=0.02), elevated C reactive protein (p=0.01) and mechanical ventilation (OR=13.37; IC: 1.9-50) were associated with a poor prognosis. Adjunctive corticotherapy did not modify the prognosis.Conclusions. These results suggest that PCP can occur during the course of various hematologic malignancies, not only lymphoproliferative disorders. Prognosis remains poor. The diagnosis should be advocated more frequently and earlier to improve the prognosis.

[Association of systemic diseases and myelodysplastic syndromes. A retrospective study of 14 cases]

CONTEXT

The association of a systemic disease (SD) and a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) may not be a coincidence. We report 14 cases.

METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted in patients presenting with an MDS, hospitalised between 1989 and 1999, in the search for a concomitant systemic disease.

RESULTS

Ninety-seven patients, 61 men and 36 women, with a mean age of 74 +/- 11 years suffered from an MDS and 14 of them a concomitant SD: one nodular periateritis, 2 systemic vascularitis, 2 cutaneous vascularitis, 2 atrophic polychondritis, 4 Gougerot-Sjogrën syndrome, 2 systemic lupus and one cutaneous lupus. The systemic disease did not appear to influence survival.

CONCLUSION

It is possible that the association is not a coincidence and therefore an MDS should be searched for when confronted with an SD, so that treatment may be adapted appropriately.

Clinical and laboratory characteristics of infective endocarditis when associated with spondylodiscitis

Spondylodiscitis is rarely observed in association with infective endocarditis (IE). In the study presented here, 92 cases of definite IE were examined. Spondylodiscitis was present in 14 (15%) cases. The mean age of patients with spondylodiscitis was 69.1+/-13.6 years (range, 33-87 years). The male-to-female ratio was 8:6. Predisposing heart disease was found in nine (64.3%) cases. Back pain was reported in all cases. Spondylodiscitis was diagnosed before endocarditis in all cases. The infection affected the lumbar spine in 10 (71%) cases. A bacterium was isolated in all cases: group D Streptococcus ( n=5; 35.7%), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus ( n=4; 28.6%), and others ( n=5). Endocarditis affected predominantly the aortic valve (43%). The outcome was favourable in 12 cases. No differences in clinical features, evolution of disease, or laboratory values were found between IE patients with and IE patients without spondylodiscitis. Spondylodiscitis does not appear to worsen prognosis of IE, although the need for cardiac valve replacement seems to be more frequent in IE patients with spondylodiscitis. IE should be included in the differential diagnosis in patients with infectious spondylodiscitis and risk factors for endocarditis. In such patients, echocardiography should be performed routinely.

Analysis of underlying diseases and prognosis factors associated with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in immunocompromised HIV-negative patients

The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the underlying diseases associated with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in immunocompromised HIV-negative patients and to identify prognosis factors in this population. One hundred three cases of PCP were diagnosed over a 5-year period. Diagnosis was established on the basis of clinical features and by detection of Pneumocystis carinii cysts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Underlying diseases comprised hematologic malignancies (n=60; 58%), inflammatory diseases (n=27; 26%), and solid tumors (n=18; 17.5%); 9 (8%) patients were solid organ transplant recipients. Seventy-one (69%) patients received cytotoxic drugs, 57 (55%) were treated with long-term corticotherapy, and 15 (14.7%) underwent bone marrow transplantation. Fifty-eight (56%) patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, and 52 (41%) required mechanical ventilation. Thirty-nine (38%) patients died of PCP; data from these patients were compared with those from surviving patients. The following factors were associated with a poor prognosis: high respiratory rate (P=0.005), high pulse rate (P=0.0003), elevated C-reactive protein (P=0.01), elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase level (P=0.02), and mechanical ventilation (OR, 14.4; 95%CI, 5-50). The results suggest that PCP can occur during the course of many immunosuppressive diseases, particularly various hematologic malignancies. The diagnosis of PCP should be considered more frequently and advocated earlier in immunocompromised HIV-negative patients, since prompt diagnosis may improve the prognosis of these patients.

Central venous catheter-related infection due to Comamonas testosteroni in a woman with breast cancer

A 75-y-old woman with breast cancer presented with bacteremia due to Comamonas testosteroni. Evolution was favorable following adapted antimicrobial therapy and removal of a central venous catheter. This germ seems to be a rare pathogen; as reported in the literature, it is mostly encountered in patients with predisposing factors.

[Study of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization among intermediate-care facility patients]

PURPOSE

Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is high in the Poitiers teaching hospital, particularly in the intermediate care facilities. We performed a survey of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization in the intermediate care facilities and 265 patients were included.

METHODS

Nasal, cutaneous and wound swab cultures were done at the time of admission and at the time of the patients' departure. A decolonization procedure of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriers was performed using nasal application of fusidic acid and different soaps for the skin. At entry, 17.7% of patients were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriers (of at least one location). At departure, 30.4% were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriers. Among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus non-carriers at entry, 24.3% became methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriers.

RESULTS

The principal risk factor of carriage was the initial presence of a wound (RR = 3.6). The incidence rate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection among the 265 patients included was 3%.

CONCLUSION

The systematic screening of patients at the time of admission is expensive and isolation technically hard to manage in the intermediate care facilities. The risk factor we found in this study allow us to propose a 'light' screening limited to patients with wounds.

[Primary and secondary prevention for erysipelas]

Erysipelas is a bacterial infection of the deepest skin layer. Predisposing factors are systemic and/or local. Main systemic factors are alcoholism, diabetes and immunodeficiency. The main local factors are an Athlete's foot (tineapedis), venous or lymphatic stasis, prosthetic surgery of the knee, and a past history of saphenous phlebectomy, lymphadenectomy, or irradiation. Such predisposing factors account for the predominance of erysipelas in the lower limbs and for the frequency of recurrence. The prevention of recurrence is stressed by all authors, and would associate correct treatment of the disease, treatment of venous and lymphatic stasis and/or wounds. A preventive antibiotic treatment should be proposed to patients with multiple predisposing factors and frequent recurrence, by using prolonged therapy with Macrolides or Penicillin. Primary prevention could concern local and/or systemic predisposing factors; however its efficacy and necessity has yet to be demonstrated. The usefulness of nosopharyngeal streptococcal carriage eradication and/or vaccination has not demonstrated either.

[Details of meningitis in the elderly]

PURPOSE

Elderly patients being more at risk for infections than younger people, this study was aimed at defining the epidemiological and clinical features of meningitis in this population, with the objective of improving diagnosis and management.

METHODS

Over a period of 10 years, all cases admitted to an infectious diseases unit for acute meningitis were reviewed. Patients infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), fungi meningitis, and who were younger than 15 years of age were excluded from the study. According to age, two groups were constituted (group A: < 65 years and group B: > or = 65 years) and compared.

RESULTS

One hundred fifty-two patients were included in the study: 110 (72.4%) in group A (29 with bacterial and 81 with viral meningitis) and 42 (26.7%) in group B (32 with bacterial and ten with viral meningitis); the mean age was, respectively, 32.7 +/- 12.9 years (range: 15-61 years) and 75.9 +/- 7.6 years (range: 65-94 years). Diagnosis was less frequently evoked in the elderly (n = 11; 26%) than in younger patients (n = 78; 71%) (P < 0.001). Streptococcus pneumoniae, Listeria monocytogenes, and herpes simplex virus were the three most common causal agents in group B. Confusion was the most common symptom among the elderly (88 vs. 17%; P < 0.001). The mortality rate was more important in group B than in group A (11.9 vs. 2.7%; P = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

Diagnosis of acute meningitis is difficult and must be evoked in the presence of any new neurologic sign. Cranial computerized tomography should not delay lumbar puncture, except in the presence of focal neurologic symptoms. Antimicrobial therapy takes into account the bacterial epidemiology.

[Effect of age on the prognosis of infectious endocarditis]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of age on the prognosis of infectious endocarditis. A retrospective study from 1987 to 1997 of 136 patients with infectious endocarditis on native, prosthetic valves or cardiac pacing catheter was performed. The outcome was analysed with the help of general practitioners. Two groups of patients were compared: 87 patients of 65 years of age or more (Group 1) and 49 patients under 65 years of age (Group 2). With a follow-up period of 5 years, the global mortality was 35%, but greater in Group 1 (p = 0.06). Cardiac failure was the main cause of death. The mortality was significantly higher in patients who were not operated (p < 0.002). The authors conclude that age of over 65 does not significantly worsen the prognosis of infectious endocarditis. The absence of surgery seems to be an indirect factor of a poor prognosis. Long-term follow-up of patients is necessary to diagnose and treat cardiac failure at an early stage and to consider referral for surgery.

[Premature cerebral vascular accidents after initiation of steroid therapy in Horton disease]

INTRODUCTION

Steroid therapy remains the standard treatment for giant cell arteritis but is sometimes incriminated in the occurrence of ischemic events, particularly in the early phase of the disease.

EXEGESIS

We report four cases of ischemic events observed early after initiation of steroid therapy in giant cell arteritis. We also reviewed the literature.

CONCLUSION

Though the close temporal relationship between the initiation of steroids and the occurrence of ischemic events suggests a causative link, other factors such as arteritis itself or arteriosclerosis would also play a role. Systematic prescription of an anticoagulant should be discussed at the initial phase of treatment of giant cell arteritis.