Aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized adult patients in New Caledonia.

Objective: To describe the aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in hospitalized adult patients in New Caledonia, a French archipelago in the South Pacific.

Methods: Confirmed CAP patients (n=137) were enrolled prospectively. Pathogens were detected by culture, molecular methods, serology on paired sera, immunofluorescence on nasopharyngeal swabs and antigen detection in urine.

[Septicemia, bilateral community acquired pneumonia and empyema due to Burkholderia pseudomallei (mellioidosis) with a favorable outcome following prolonged specific antibiotic therapy].

Introduction: Melioidosis is an infectious disease due to Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp). It is regarded as endemic in southeast Asia and northern Australia. The septicaemic form is a severe illness with a high mortality.

[Necrotizing pneumonia due to Gemella morbillorum in an immunocompetent patient].

Background: Gemella morbillorum is an anaerobic to aerotolerant Gram positive coccus. It is considered a member of the normal upper respiratory tract flora including the oropharynx and also the gastro-intestinal and female genital tract. However severe infections are reported like endocarditis, septic shock and septic arthritis, more often in immunocompromised hosts.

The prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance in New Caledonia, 1995-1996.

Setting: Study of the susceptibility to anti-tuberculosis drugs of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in New Caledonia, a French South Pacific Territory, where tuberculosis continues to be a public health problem.

Objective: To assess the stability of this susceptibility in order to justify both non-systematic susceptibility testing and the implementation of simplified chemotherapy regimens.

Methods: Over a period of nearly 2 years (1995-1996), every new case of tuberculosis confirmed by the laboratory was included in the study.