Antibiotics (Basel)
May 2024
infection (CDI), though identified nearly five decades ago, still remains a major challenge, being associated with significant mortality rates. The strains classified as hypervirulent, notably 027/NAP1/BI, have garnered substantial attention from researchers and clinicians due to their direct correlation with the severity of the disease. Our study aims to elucidate the significance of toxigenic (CD) strains in the clinical and therapeutic aspects of managing patients diagnosed with CDI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: One of the most severe forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is tuberculous meningitis (TBM), which is linked to significant morbidity and high mortality. It is well recognized that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive people are more likely to develop EPTB, including TBM, especially if they have severe immunodeficiencies. We aim to highlight the profile and the characteristics of TBM in HIV-infected patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntibiotics (Basel)
June 2023
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought new challenges across medical disciplines, particularly in infectious disease medicine. In Romania, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection increased dramatically since March 2020 until March 2022. Antibiotic administration for pulmonary superinfections in COVID-19 intensified and, consequently, increased rates of infection (CDI) were hypothesized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Immunol
July 2023
C-reactive protein (CRP) has been one of the most investigated inflammatory-biomarkers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemics caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The severe outcome among patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection is closely related to the cytokine storm and the hyperinflammation responsible for the acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure. It still remains a challenge to determine which of the hyperinflammatory biomarkers and cytokines are the best predictors for disease severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to analyze the serum concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), ferritin, and procalcitonin in COVID-19 patients with different forms of the disease. We performed a prospective cohort study on 137 COVID-19 consecutive patients, divided into four groups according to the severity of the disease as follows: 30 patients in the mild form group, 49 in the moderate form group, 28 in the severe form group, and 30 in the critical form group. The tested parameters were correlated with COVID-19 severity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe intensive care unit (ICU), especially in an infectious disease hospital, is both an area with a high consumption of antibiotics (atb) and a "reservoir" of multidrug-resistant bacteria. We proposed the analysis of antibiotic therapy practices in such a department that treated, in conditions of a pandemic wave, patients with COVID-19 and its complications. This was a retrospective transversal study of 184 COVID-19 patients treated in the ICU of a regional infectious disease hospital of Iaşi, Romania, in a 3-month interval of 2020 and 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFever of unknown origin (FUO) is a serious challenge for physicians. The aim of the present study was to consider epidemiology and dynamics of FUO in countries with different economic development. The data of FUO patients hospitalized/followed between 1st July 2016 and 1st July 2021 were collected retrospectively and submitted from referral centers in 21 countries through ID-IRI clinical research platform.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntibiotics (Basel)
January 2023
Unlabelled: 1.
Background: Literature data on bacterial infections and their impact on the mortality rates of COVID-19 patients from Romania are scarce, while worldwide reports are contrasting. 2.
Background: We evaluated clinical effectiveness of regdanvimab (CT-P59), a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody, in reducing disease progression and clinical recovery time in patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), primarily Alpha variant.
Methods: This was phase 3 of a phase 2/3 parallel-group, double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 were randomized to single-dose regdanvimab 40 mg/kg (n = 656) or placebo (n = 659), alongside standard of care.
The empirical administration of antibiotics for suspected bacterial meningitis denotes a poor bacterial stewardship. In this context, the use of biomarkers can distinguish between bacterial and viral infections before deciding treatment. Our study assesses how levels of heparin-binding protein (HBP), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in blood can promptly confirm bacterial etiology and the need for antibiotic treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Med
December 2021
(1) Background: There are limited clinical data in patients from the Eastern European regions hospitalized for a severe form of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aims to identify risk factors associated with intra-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19 severe pneumonia admitted to a tertiary center in Iasi, Romania. (2) Methods: The study is of a unicentric retrospective observational type and includes 150 patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia divided into two subgroups, survivors and non-survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe incidence of urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by has exhibited an increasing trend and has become a high burden for many public health systems, especially in hospital settings. Multidrug resistance associated with the production of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) among isolates is endemic in Southeastern Europe. We retrospectively analyzed 75 cases admitted to 'St.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is the most lethal form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, which has a high rate of neurological complications and sequelae.
Objectives: Our study offers a real-world infectious disease clinic perspective, being thus representative for the clinical environment of developing countries.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the 127 adult and 77 pediatric cases diagnosed with TBM in the Infectious Disease Hospital of the School of Medicine of Iasi, Romania between 2004-2013.
Unlabelled: The aim of the present study was to investigate S. aureus isolates for the presence of methicillin-resistance and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes and to further characterize positive strains by means of antibiotic resistance patterns.
Material And Methods: We used a triplex Real-Time PCR method for simultaneous detection of nuc, mecA and pvl genes in clinical isolates from 188 patients admitted to "Sf.