Contextual Hospital Conditions and the Risk of Nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Matched Case-Control Study with Density Sampling in a Large Portuguese Hospital.

Knowledge of the role of hospital conditions in SARS-CoV-2 transmission should inform strategies for the prevention of nosocomial spread of this pathogen and of similarly transmitted viruses. This study aimed to identify risk factors for nosocomial acquisition of SARS-CoV-2. We ran a nested case-control study with incidence density sampling among adult patients hospitalized for >7 days (August-December 2020).

Appropriateness of Empirical Prescriptions of Ceftriaxone and Identification of Opportunities for Stewardship Interventions: A Single-Centre Cross-Sectional Study.

Third-generation cephalosporins are widely used due to the convenient spectrum of activity, safety, and posology. However, they are associated with the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms, which makes them important targets for antimicrobial stewardship interventions. We aimed to assess the appropriateness of empirical prescriptions of ceftriaxone in a tertiary hospital.

Validation of a semi-automated surveillance system for surgical site infections: Improving exhaustiveness, representativeness, and efficiency.

Objectives: To assess whether electronic records data could improve the efficiency, exhaustiveness, and representativeness of SSI surveillance by selecting a group of high-risk patients for manual review.

Methods: Colorectal surgeries (2016-2018) and cholecystectomies (2017-2018) were selected. Post-surgical antibiotic use, positive culture, C-reactive protein (CRP) values, body temperature, leukocyte count, surgical re-intervention, admission to the emergency room, and hospital readmission were retrieved.

Persuasive antimicrobial stewardship intervention in the context of a KPC outbreak: a controlled interrupted time series analysis.

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health threat. Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is one of the key strategies to overcome resistance, but robust evidence on the effect of specific interventions is lacking. We report an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis of a persuasive AMS intervention implemented during a KPC producing Klebsiella pneumoniae outbreak.

Severe Tuberculosis Requiring Intensive Care: A Descriptive Analysis.

. This study aims to describe the characteristics of tuberculosis (TB) patients requiring intensive care and to determine the in-hospital mortality and the associated predictive factors. .

Prozone-like phenomenon in travellers with fatal malaria: report of two cases.

Malaria diagnosis remains a concern in non-endemic countries, with rapid diagnosis being crucial to improve patients' outcome. Rapid diagnostic tests have high sensitivity but they also have flaws and false-negative results that might jeopardize malaria diagnosis. Some false-negative results might relate to a prozone-like effect.