Risk stratification for multidrug-resistant bacteria in patients with skin and soft tissue infection.

Purpose Of Review: This article summarizes the available evidence enabling a stratification of risk for multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDRB) in patients with skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI).

Recent Findings: MDRB are increasingly reported in both healthcare-associated (HCA) and community-acquired (CA)-SSTI, including in patients with life-threatening presentations for whom early initiation of adequate antimicrobial therapy is pivotal to improve outcomes. Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is now endemic in several geographical areas and may cause outbreaks in frail populations or other at-risk clusters.

Changes in the clinical presentation and outcomes of patients treated for severe malaria in a referral French university intensive care unit from 2004 to 2017.

Background: In France, the incidence of severe imported malaria cases increased since early 2000. Artesunate was available (temporarily use authorization) since mid-2011 in France and commonly used for severe malaria since early 2013. Thus, the study objectives were to describe the patients with severe imported malaria admitted in intensive care unit (ICU) and assess the changes in clinical presentation and outcomes before and after this date.

Treatment of invasive fungal infections in intensive care units with micafungin: The MYRIADE study.

Background: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) contribute significantly to nosocomial illness in intensive care units (ICUs). Current practice guidelines recommend echinocandins, such as micafungin, for the treatment of invasive candidiasis. However, limited information on their use in real-world practice is available.

Bloodstream infections in critically ill patients: an expert statement.

Bloodstream infection (BSI) is defined by positive blood cultures in a patient with systemic signs of infection and may be either secondary to a documented source or primary-that is, without identified origin. Community-acquired BSIs in immunocompetent adults usually involve drug-susceptible bacteria, while healthcare-associated BSIs are frequently due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. Early adequate antimicrobial therapy is a key to improve patient outcomes, especially in those with criteria for sepsis or septic shock, and should be based on guidelines and direct examination of available samples.

Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on the obesity paradox in critically ill patients.

Objective: Patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) frequently suffer from multiple chronic diseases, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Until recently OSA was not considered as a key determinant in an ICU patient's prognosis. The objective of this study was to document the impact of OSA on the prognosis of ICU patients.

Acyclovir for Mechanically Ventilated Patients With Herpes Simplex Virus Oropharyngeal Reactivation: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The role of herpes simplex virus (HSV) reactivation on morbidity and mortality in patients in the intensive care unit requiring mechanical ventilation remains unknown.

Objective: To determine whether preemptive treatment with intravenous acyclovir reduces the duration of mechanical ventilation in patients with HSV oropharyngeal reactivation.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial was conducted in 16 intensive care units in France.

The Fami-life study: protocol of a prospective observational multicenter mixed study of psychological consequences of grieving relatives in French palliative care units on behalf of the family research in palliative care (F.R.I.P.C research network).

Background: Grieving relatives can suffer from numerous consequences like anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and prolonged grief. This study aims to assess the psychological consequences of grieving relatives after patients' death in French palliative care units and their needs for support.

Methods: This is a prospective observational multicenter mixed study.

Carbapenem use in critically ill patients.

Purpose Of Review: To review available data on carbapenem use in ICU. Carbapenem is a broad spectrum well tolerated antibiotic family that keep an excellent activity to extended spectrum β-lactamases and AmpC hyperproducer and in susceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. It becomes a drug of choice for empirical therapy of suspected sepsis in known or presumably known ESBLE carriers.

Antimicrobial de-escalation in critically ill patients: a position statement from a task force of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) and European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Critically Ill Patients Study Group (ESGCIP).

Background: Antimicrobial de-escalation (ADE) is a strategy of antimicrobial stewardship, aiming at preventing the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by decreasing the exposure to broad-spectrum antimicrobials. There is no high-quality research on ADE and its effects on AMR. Its definition varies and there is little evidence-based guidance for clinicians to use ADE in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Extra-cardiac endovascular infections in the critically ill.

Vascular infections are associated with high complication rates and mortality. While there is an extensive body of literature surrounding cardiac infections including endocarditis, this is less so the case for other endovascular infections. The objective of this narrative review is to summarize the epidemiology, clinical features, and selected management of severe vascular infections exclusive of those involving the heart.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia due to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: Risk factors and outcome.

Background: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM) is increasingly identified in intensive care unit (ICU). This study aim to identify risk factors for SM ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and whether it affects ICU mortality METHODS: Two nested matched case-control studies were performed based in OUTCOMEREA database. The first episodes of SM-VAP patients were matched with two different control groups: VAP due to other micro-organisms (VAP-other) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa VAP (Pyo-VAP).

Epidemiology of intra-abdominal infection and sepsis in critically ill patients: "AbSeS", a multinational observational cohort study and ESICM Trials Group Project.

Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of intra-abdominal infection in an international cohort of ICU patients according to a new system that classifies cases according to setting of infection acquisition (community-acquired, early onset hospital-acquired, and late-onset hospital-acquired), anatomical disruption (absent or present with localized or diffuse peritonitis), and severity of disease expression (infection, sepsis, and septic shock).

Methods: We performed a multicenter (n = 309), observational, epidemiological study including adult ICU patients diagnosed with intra-abdominal infection. Risk factors for mortality were assessed by logistic regression analysis.

Impact of natural light exposure on delirium burden in adult patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation in the ICU: a prospective study.

Objective: To determine whether potential exposure to natural light via windows is associated with reduced delirium burden in critically ill patients admitted to the ICU in a single room.

Design: Prospective single-center study.

Setting: Medical ICU of a university hospital, Paris, France.

Short-term dialysis catheter versus central venous catheter infections in ICU patients: a post hoc analysis of individual data of 4 multi-centric randomized trials.

Purpose: Little is known on catheter-related infections associated with short-term dialysis catheters (DC). Recommendations for infection prevention are mostly derived from those related to central venous catheters (CVC). A comparison of infectious risk of DCs and CVCs would be instrumental for improving infection control prevention strategies.

Management and Prevention of Central Venous Catheter-Related Infections in the ICU.

Central venous catheter-related bloodstream infections (CR-BSI) are a frequent event in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting. In contrast to other nosocomial infections, most risk factors for CR-BSI are linked to the device and can be prevented efficiently. Rates of CR-BSI higher than 1 per 1,000 catheter days are no longer acceptable.

Ceftolozane-tazobactam versus meropenem for treatment of nosocomial pneumonia (ASPECT-NP): a randomised, controlled, double-blind, phase 3, non-inferiority trial.

Background: Nosocomial pneumonia due to antimicrobial-resistant pathogens is associated with high mortality. We assessed the efficacy and safety of the combination antibacterial drug ceftolozane-tazobactam versus meropenem for treatment of Gram-negative nosocomial pneumonia.

Methods: We conducted a randomised, controlled, double-blind, non-inferiority trial at 263 hospitals in 34 countries.

Impact of species and antibiotic therapy of enterococcal peritonitis on 30-day mortality in critical care-an analysis of the OUTCOMEREA database.

Introduction: Enterococcus species are associated with an increased morbidity in intraabdominal infections (IAI). However, their impact on mortality remains uncertain. Moreover, the influence on outcome of the appropriate or inappropriate status of initial antimicrobial therapy (IAT) is subjected to debate, except in septic shock.

Validation of discrete time-to-event prediction models in the presence of competing risks.

Clinical prediction models play a key role in risk stratification, therapy assignment and many other fields of medical decision making. Before they can enter clinical practice, their usefulness has to be demonstrated using systematic validation. Methods to assess their predictive performance have been proposed for continuous, binary, and time-to-event outcomes, but the literature on validation methods for discrete time-to-event models with competing risks is sparse.

Effect of an ICU Diary on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among Patients Receiving Mechanical Ventilation: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Keeping a diary for patients while they are in the intensive care unit (ICU) might reduce their posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.

Objectives: To assess the effect of an ICU diary on the psychological consequences of an ICU hospitalization.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Assessor-blinded, multicenter, randomized clinical trial in 35 French ICUs from October 2015 to January 2017, with follow-up until July 2017.