[Epidemiologial profile of invasive candidiasis in intensive care units at a university hospital].

Unlabelled: Invasive candidiasis (IC) epidemiology has changed in critically ill patients and limited data are available in Chile.

Objective: To describe the epidemiological and microbiological profile of IC in critically ill patients.

Methods: Observational prospective study conducted from October 2001 to August 2003 in critically ill adults with suspected or confirmed IC.

[Genetic tests: definition, methods, validity and clinical utility].

The knowledge of the human genome has led to an explosion of available genetic tests for clinical use. The methodologies used in these tests vary widely, allowing the study from chromosomes to the analysis of a single nucleotide. Prior to its use in the clinical setting, these tests should have an evaluation that includes analytical and clinical validation and determination of the clinical utility, as any other tests, including requirements for quality assurance.

[Laboratory alert value reporting by the clinical laboratory at an academic medical network].

Background: An alert value is a result suggesting that the patient is at imminent danger unless appropriate remedial actions begin promptly. Report of alert values (AV) by the clinical laboratories has taken special relevance in recent years due to its contribution to patient's care.

Aim: To report results of AV informed during 2007 within the Health Network of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

[Universal or broad-range polymerase chain reaction (PCR): a contribution to the detection and identification of bacteria and fungi in clinical practice].

The use of techniques for the detection of nucleic acids such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has had a major impact on microbiological analysis, playing an important role in the clinical laboratory. Most of the techniques currently used are designed for specific detection of a particular microorganism. However, infectious agents can also be identified even if genus or species are unknown, using universal primers to amplify bacterial or fungal DNA and then identify the species by sequence (universal or wide spectrum PCR).

[Presence of metallo beta-lactamases in imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa].

Background: Metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) confer high resistance to carbapenems in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Psae). They are encoded in mobile elements of different genes (VIM, IMP, SMP, GIM), along with other resistance genes.

Aim: To detect the presence of MBL in imipenem resistant Psae strains.

[Bacillary angiomatosis caused by Bartonella quintana in an human immunodeficiency virus positive patient].

We report the first case of bacillary angiomatosis due to Bartonella quintana affecting a Chilean a HIV positive patient in Chile. He was a 27 years old, heterosexual male, indigent man known to be HIV positive serological status known from September, 2003, under irregular medical control. On April, 2005, he presented a progressive abscess in the frontal region and erythematous papules in the extremities, that extended to face, thorax and mucoses, becoming nodular and violaceous lesions.