Validation of automated sepsis surveillance based on the Sepsis-3 clinical criteria against physician record review in a general hospital population: observational study using electronic health records data.

Background: Surveillance of sepsis incidence is important for directing resources and evaluating quality-of-care interventions. The aim was to develop and validate a fully-automated Sepsis-3 based surveillance system in non-intensive care wards using electronic health record (EHR) data, and demonstrate utility by determining the burden of hospital-onset sepsis and variations between wards.

Methods: A rule-based algorithm was developed using EHR data from a cohort of all adult patients admitted at an academic centre between July 2012 and December 2013.

[Prevalence of healthcare-associated infections based on Swedish point-prevalence survey compared to usage of the European Center of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) definitions].

The purpose was to compare the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in the Swedish point prevalence survey with an assessment using the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) definitions of HAI. A total of 1247 patients were included from three Swedish hospitals. The prevalence of HAI was higher in the Swedish survey as compared to when using the ECDC definitions.

16S rDNA sequencing of valve tissue improves microbiological diagnosis in surgically treated patients with infective endocarditis.

Objectives: The aim was to evaluate 16S rDNA sequencing in heart valves in patients with infective endocarditis undergoing surgery.

Methods: Fifty-seven patients with infective endocarditis were examined in this prospective study by analysing heart valves with 16S rDNA sequencing and culturing methods and comparing the results to blood cultures. As controls, heart valves from 61 patients without any signs of endocarditis were examined.

Swedish guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of infective endocarditis.

Swedish guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of infective endocarditis (IE) by consensus of experts are based on clinical experience and reports from the literature. Recommendations are evidence based. For diagnosis 3 blood cultures should be drawn; chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, and echocardiography preferably transoesophageal should be carried out.

Addition of a macrolide to a ss-lactam in bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia.

In the study presented here, data collected prospectively from 340 adult patients hospitalised in five countries with bacteremic pneumococcal CAP and treated with a ss-lactam +/- a macrolide were analysed retrospectively to evaluate the efficacy of this antimicrobial combination. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed no significant effect on case fatality rate when a macrolide/ss-lactam regimen was used as initial therapy. Results were not affected by severity of illness, or by excluding patients who died within 2 days of admission.

Intravenous immunoglobulin G therapy in streptococcal toxic shock syndrome: a European randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

The efficacy and safety of high-dose intravenous polyspecific immunoglobulin G (IVIG) as adjunctive therapy in streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) were evaluated in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The trial was prematurely terminated because of slow patient recruitment, and results were obtained from 21 enrolled patients (10 IVIG recipients and 11 placebo recipients). The primary end point was mortality at 28 days, and a 3.

Salmonella virchow meningitis in an adult.

We report here a case of meningitis caused by Salmonella virchow in a woman without signs or history of immunosuppression. Salmonella meningitis is a rare complication of human salmonellosis. The patient was successfully treated with ciprofloxacin.

Prospective study of prognostic factors in community-acquired bacteremic pneumococcal disease in 5 countries.

To define the influence of prognostic factors in patients with community-acquired pneumococcal bacteremia, a 2-year prospective study was performed in 5 centers in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Sweden. By multivariate analysis, the independent predictors of death among the 460 patients were age >65 years (odds ratio [OR], 2.2), living in a nursing home (OR, 2.

Routine semiquantitative cultures and central venous catheter-related bacteremia.

Semiquantitative cultures were compared with blood cultures during one year in order to see if the routine use of a semiquantitative catheter culture method (SQC) in unselected patients can detect or predict infection associated with central venous catheters. Catheter infection, i.e.