Cystitis: symptomatology in women with suspected uncomplicated urinary tract infection.

Background: Although cystitis in women is very common in general practice, its evolution in symptoms has not been clearly studied. Qualitative research has pointed to other than the classic symptomatology.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study of the symptomatology at presentation and the evolution of the symptoms in treated women with suspected uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI).

Speed of molecular detection techniques for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus admission screening in an acute care hospital.

Active surveillance for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriers is considered an essential component of MRSA control strategies in acute care hospitals. Recently, molecular assays for MRSA screening have been proposed with significant reduction of the sample processing time. Using a time analysis model, we investigated the time gain after the introduction of a molecular assay and compared this with a preceding control period, using culture-based techniques.

Destructive otomastoiditis by MRSA from porcine origin.

A 63-year-old female pig farmer was referred to our department with a protracted course of otomastoiditis with destruction of the tympanic roof and cerebrospinal fluid leakage. The patient underwent a cortical mastoidectomy with closure of a large dural defect. Cultures of the middle ear effusion yielded a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which upon further analysis was found to be from porcine origin.

Role of coagulase-negative staphylococci in human disease.

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are normal inhabitants of human skin and mucous membranes. They have long been dismissed as culture contaminants, but now the potentially important role of CNS as pathogens and their increasing incidence has been recognized. Approximately 55-75% of nosocomial isolates is methicillin resistant.