Hydrogen peroxide vapour treatment inactivates norovirus but has limited effect on post-treatment viral RNA levels.

Background: Hydrogen peroxide vapour is used as a room disinfectant. Its activity against murine norovirus, a surrogate viability marker for human norovirus, indicates that it is also active against human norovirus.

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess how this effect on viability is reflected in measurements of RNA by quantitative PCR (qPCR).

Considerable variation of trough β-lactam concentrations in older adults hospitalized with infection-a prospective observational study.

In older adults, few studies confirm that adequate concentrations of antibiotics are achieved using current dosage regimens of intravenous β-lactam antibiotics. Our objective was to investigate trough concentrations of cefotaxime, meropenem, and piperacillin in older adults hospitalized with infection. We included 102 patients above 70 years of age.

Assessment of early combination effects of colistin and meropenem against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii in dynamic time-kill experiments.

Background: In view of the paucity of clinical evidence, in vitro studies are needed to find antibiotic combinations effective against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Interpretation of in vitro effects is usually based on bacterial growth after 24 h in time-kill and checkerboard experiments. However, the clinical relevance of the effects observed in vitro is not established.

Repeated nationwide point-prevalence surveys of antimicrobial use in Swedish hospitals: data for actions 2003-2010.

This study sought to analyse antimicrobial pressure, indications for treatment, and compliance with treatment recommendations and to identify possible problem areas where inappropriate use could be improved through interventions by the network of the local Swedish Strategic Programme Against Antibiotic Resistance (Strama) groups. Five point-prevalence surveys were performed in between 49 and 72 participating hospitals from 2003 to 2010. Treatments were recorded for 19 predefined diagnosis groups and whether they were for community-acquired infection, hospital-acquired infection, or prophylaxis.

Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor Decontamination in a Patient Room Using Feline Calicivirus and Murine Norovirus as Surrogate Markers for Human Norovirus.

Objective: To determine whether hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV) could be used to decontaminate caliciviruses from surfaces in a patient room.

Design: Feline calicivirus (FCV) and murine norovirus (MNV) were used as surrogate viability markers to mimic the noncultivable human norovirus. Cell culture supernatants of FCV and MNV were dried in triplicate 35-mm wells of 6-well plastic plates.

An Audit-Based, Infectious Disease Specialist-Guided Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Profoundly Reduced Antibiotic Use Without Negatively Affecting Patient Outcomes.

Background.  Antimicrobial stewardship programs are increasingly implemented in hospital care. They aim to simultaneously optimize outcomes for individual patients with infections and reduce financial and health-associated costs of overuse of antibiotics.

Prevalence of penicillin-non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae in children in day-care centres subjected to an intervention to prevent dispersion.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the day-care interventions implemented in southern Sweden to restrict the dispersion of penicillin-non-susceptible pneumococci with a minimum inhibitory concentration of penicillin G of at least 0.5 mg/l (PNSP0.5).

Risk factors, outcome and impact of empirical antimicrobial treatment in extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli bacteraemia.

Background: To investigate patient characteristics and empirical antimicrobial treatment of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) bacteraemia, to determine risk factors, outcome and impact of empirical antimicrobial treatment.

Methods: We performed a retrospective case-control study of all patients diagnosed with ESBL-EC from January 2011 to September 2012. The control group consisted of patients with non-ESBL E.

Risk factors for pneumococcal carriage in day care centers: a retrospective study during a 10-year period.

In this retrospective epidemiologic study, we present pneumococcal carriage data from 109 Swedish day care centers over a period of 10 years. Aspects of season, age, personnel and group size were studied. We found a significant seasonal variation in pneumococcal carriage.

High incidence of septic shock caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3--a retrospective epidemiological study.

Background: More than 90 immunologically distinct serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae exist, and it is not fully elucidated whether the serotype is a risk factor for severity of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Our hypothesis is that serotypes differ in their capacity to cause septic shock.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study in Southern Sweden based upon 513 patients with IPD in the pre-vaccine era 2006-2008.

Risk factors for infections with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in a county of Southern Sweden.

Background: It is important to identify patients who are at risk for infections with extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria in order to reduce mortality, to avoid spread of resistant bacteria in hospitals, and to minimize the number of patients receiving unnecessary treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics. A case-control survey among Swedish patients was performed at Skåne University Hospital to identify risk factors for developing an infection with ESBL-producing Escherichia coli in a low endemic country.

Methods: We used a computerized database to identify patients with growth of ESBL-producing E.

Prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing bacteria in food.

Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae with Cefotaximase-München (CTX-M) enzymes are rapidly increasing worldwide and pose a threat to health care. ESBLs with CTX-M enzymes have been isolated from animals and different food products, but it is unknown if food imported from the Mediterranean area may be a possible reservoir of these bacteria. During 2007-2008, swab samples from food across different retail outlets (mostly food from the Mediterranean countries and Swedish chicken) were collected.

Eradication of nasopharyngeal carriage of penicillin-non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae--is it possible?

Background: The South Swedish Pneumococcal Intervention Project (SSPIP) was started in 1995 with the aim of limiting the spread of penicillin-non-susceptible pneumococci (PNSP) in Skåne County, Sweden. As part of the SSPIP, eradication therapy with rifampicin in combination with 1 more antibiotic was considered on a social indication after prolonged carriage of 2-3 months.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 125 medical records were analyzed.

Increase of β-lactam-resistant invasive Haemophilus influenzae in Sweden, 1997 to 2010.

The proportions of Haemophilus influenzae resistant to ampicillin and other β-lactam antibiotics have been low in Sweden compared to other countries in the Western world. However, a near-doubled proportion of nasopharyngeal Swedish H. influenzae isolates with resistance to β-lactams has been observed in the last decade.

Duration of colonization with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in patients with travellers' diarrhoea.

Background: Resistant Enterobacteriaceae have become a worldwide epidemic during the last decade and are a great threat to health care worldwide. International travel is a major risk factor for becoming colonized with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria. Data on the persistence of colonization with ESBL-producing bacteria in the faecal flora are limited.

Necrotizing myositis and septic shock caused by Haemophilus influenzae type f in a previously healthy man diagnosed with an IgG3 and a mannose-binding lectin deficiency.

An increased incidence of infections by Haemophilus influenzae type f (Hif) has recently been suggested, but such infections have mainly been regarded as opportunistic. We present here a dramatic case of Hif necrotizing myositis and septic shock. A subsequently diagnosed IgG3 and mannose-binding lectin deficiency possibly contributed to the severe outcome.

Duration of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization after diagnosis: a four-year experience from southern Sweden.

Background: The duration of colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is not well known and there is debate as to whether a patient colonized with MRSA ever can be defined as 'MRSA-negative'.

Methods: Since 2003 all notified MRSA cases have been systematically followed in Skåne County, southern Sweden. Cultures are taken from the nares, throat, perineum and possible skin lesions.

Bacterial aetiology in ventilator-associated pneumonia at a Swedish university hospital.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a common complication of respiratory support and is associated with increased mortality, morbidity and costs, and a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit. Scandinavian data on the aetiology in VAP are lacking. We hereby present a retrospective study on the aetiology of VAP diagnosed by protective specimen brush culture at Malmö University Hospital in relation to early- and late-onset VAP, antibiotic treatment and the incidence of drug-resistant bacteria.

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in patients with travellers' diarrhoea.

The identification of patients carrying extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria is important, since these patients are at risk of receiving inappropriate empirical therapy if they become infected. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of ESBL-producing bacteria in patients with travellers' diarrhoea. Patients with travellers' diarrhoea (N = 242) having delivered stool samples for the diagnosis of Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia or Campylobacter, were also examined for ESBL-producing Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis.

Diagnosis-prescribing surveys in 2000, 2002 and 2005 in Swedish general practice: consultations, diagnosis, diagnostics and treatment choices.

The aim of this study is to present diagnostic patterns, diagnostics used and antibiotic treatment in relation to guidelines in 3 repeated diagnosis-prescription studies conducted simultaneously in general practice in 5 Swedish counties, during 1 week in November 2000, 2002 and 2005. General practitioners (GPs) at the participating health centres were asked to complete a form for all patients with symptoms of an infectious disease. During the studied periods a total of 15,371 consultations was registered.

Pharmacodynamic effects of telavancin against methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus strains in the presence of human albumin or serum and in an in vitro kinetic model.

Telavancin is a novel bactericidal lipoglycopeptide with multiple mechanisms of action against gram-positive pathogens. The aim of this study was to describe the dynamics of the antimicrobial effect of telavancin against two strains of Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin susceptible and methicillin resistant) in an in vitro kinetic model with simulated human pharmacokinetics. Also, static experiments were performed to determine the rate and extent of killing by telavancin in the presence and absence of human albumin and human serum.