Antimicrobial stewardship without infectious disease physician for patients with candidemia: A before and after study.

Background: Little is known about the effects of antimicrobial stewardship team (AST) without infectious disease physician (IDP) on clinical outcome in patients with candidemia.

Methods: We conducted a before and after study involving patients with hospital-acquired candidemia at a tertiary hospital without IDPs. The AST consisted of physicians, pharmacists, nurse, microbiologist, and administrative staff.

[Penicillium marneffei isolated from a Thai AIDS patient with fungemia].

Penicillium marneffei was isolated from three blood cultures of a Thai woman with AIDS and then identified as such. The patient, 41 a year-old female from northeast Thailand came to Japan 10 years ago and married a Japanese man. She was reportedly the third patient infected with this fungal species in Japan, and considered to be the first case from whom the causative fungus was successfully cultured, which led to the diagnosis of penicilliosis marneffei.

[Antimicrobial susceptibility and beta-lactamase productivity of recent clinical isolates during the period between December 1999 and February 2000].

Antimicrobial susceptibility testings of 24 antimicrobial agents against 605 clinical strains belonging to 10 species were carried out according to the micro-broth dilution method of NCCLS M7-A4. The productivity of beta-lactamase was also determined against them isolated at 8 medical facilities in Nagano prefecture, Japan during the period between December 1999 and February 2000. When applied the nitrocefin method, beta-lactamase productivity was demonstrated to be positive for 89.