Etiology and risk factors of 180 cases of native valve endocarditis. Report from a 5-year national prospective survey in Slovak Republic.

Risk factors, etiology, and outcome of 180 cases of infective endocarditis (IE) in the Slovak Republic for 5 years were prospectively studied in a national survey. According to the Duke Endocarditis Service Criteria (1994), 169 cases were considered definitive and 21 possible/probable. The aortic valve was infected in 46.

Bacteremia due to methicillin-resistant staphylococci occurs more frequently in neutropenic patients who received antimicrobial prophylaxis and is associated with higher mortality in comparison to methicillin-sensitive bacteriemia.

Bacteriemia due to coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) resistant to methicillin and sensitive only to glycopeptides in 220 cancer patients was prospectively analyzed for risk factors and outcome. A group of 33 cases of bacteriemia with CNS-sensitive only to glycopeptides was compared with a group of 187 cases with CNS sensitive to methicillin. All cases appeared in two affiliated major cancer institutes in Bratislava with the same antibiotic policy.

Inappropriate antibiotic therapy in febrile cancer patients with bacteremia.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the outcome of inappropriately treated cancer patients with documented bacteremia.

Design/setting: 95 cases of inappropriately treated bacteremias in febrile cancer patients in a tertiary-care center were analyzed and compared with a group of appropriately treated bacteremias to assess risk factors for inappropriate therapy and outcome.

Results: Among 285 bacteremias, 95 (33.