Impact of a strategy based on unique blood culture sampling on contamination rate and detection of bloodstream infections in critically ill patients.

Background: Unique blood culture (UBC) has been proposed to limit the number of venipuncture and to decrease the risk of BC contaminations (BCC) without affecting their yield. We hypothesized that a multi-faceted program based on UBC in the ICU may reduce the rate of contaminants with a similar performance for bloodstream infections (BSI) identification.

Methods: In a before and after design, we compared the proportion of BSI and BCC.

Lessons learnt from a nosocomial COVID-19 outbreak in a geriatric acute care ward with a high attack rate.

Nosocomial COVID-19 in older patients has a high mortality rate. We describe an outbreak of COVID-19 in a geriatric acute care unit (GACU) in March/April 2020 and the lessons learnt regarding prevention. Thirty-six patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 during that 2-month period, in France's "first wave" of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Staphylococcus capitis isolated from bloodstream infections: a nationwide 3-month survey in 38 neonatal intensive care units.

To increase the knowledge about S. capitis in the neonatal setting, we conducted a nationwide 3-month survey in 38 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) covering 56.6% of French NICU beds.

The prognosis of streptococcal prosthetic bone and joint infections depends on surgical management-A multicenter retrospective study.

Background: The optimal treatment of streptococcal prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) is unclear.

Methods: A cohort of streptococcal PJIs was reviewed retrospectively in seven reference centers for the management of complex bone and joint infections, covering the period January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012.

Results: Seventy patients with monomicrobial infections were included: 47 had infections of total hip arthroplasty and 23 had infections of total knee arthroplasty.

[Initial antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients].

In 2014 an antiretroviral treatment should be initiated in any HIV-infected patient, whatever his/her CD4 lymphocyte count. The objectives of antiretroviral treatment are both individual (restoration or preservation of immune functions, decreased morbidity and mortality, decreased chronic systemic inflammation) and collective (decreased risk of HIV sexual transmission). Preferred initial regimens include two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (tenofovir/emtricitabine or abacavir/lamivudine) plus a third agent, either a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (rilpivirine or efavirenz), or a ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor (atazanavir or darunavir).