Contextual barriers to infection prevention and control program implementation in hospitals in Latin America: a mixed methods evaluation.

Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) programs are essential to prevent and control the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms in healthcare facilities (HCFs). The current implementation of these programs in Latin America remains largely unknown.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of IPC program implementation in HCFs from Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, and Argentina, March-July 2022.

Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of Latin American healthcare workers relating to antibiotic stewardship and antibiotic use: a cross-sectional multi-country study.

Background: The burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Latin America is high. Little is known about healthcare workers' (HCWs) knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of antimicrobial stewardship (AS), AMR, and antibiotic use (AU) in the region.

Methods: HCWs from 42 hospitals from 5 Latin American countries were invited to take an electronic, voluntary, anonymous survey regarding knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of AS, AMR, and AU between March-April 2023.

Deep Dive Into Gaps and Barriers to Implementation of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Hospitals in Latin America.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance has worsened in Latin America. There is an urgent need to understand the development of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) and the barriers to implementing effective ASPs in light of limited national action plans or policies to promote ASPs in the region.

Methods: We performed a descriptive mixed-methods study of ASPs in 5 Latin American countries in March-July 2022.

Trends in Inpatient Antibiotic Use Among Adults Hospitalized During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, 2018-2021.

Background: High rates of antibiotic use (AU) among inpatients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) despite low rates of bacterial coinfection and secondary infection have been reported. We evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on AU in healthcare facilities (HCFs) in South America.

Methods: We conducted an ecologic evaluation of AU in inpatient adult acute care wards in 2 HCFs each in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.

Controlling infectious disease outbreaks in low-income and middle-income countries.

When an infectious disease outbreak is detected or suspected, a healthcare facility's infection control personnel should be notified and an outbreak control team formed that is pertinent to the size and severity of the outbreak and healthcare facility. Management of an infectious disease outbreak in a middle- or low-income country is challenging. Cost-effective recommendations that are easy to carry out and that have been stratified according to the type of infection and prevention and control intervention used are provided in this paper and constitute basic practices.

Reactivation of Chagas Disease in a Patient With Follicular Lymphoma Diagnosed by Means of Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction.

We report a case of Chagas disease reactivation in a patient with stage IIb follicular lymphoma in the cecum. He was admitted to the hospital with neutropenia and fever. He had a history of right hemicolectomy 6 months earlier and had received the sixth cycle of chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone/rituximab.

[Septic arthritis caused by Kingella kingae in children].

Introduction: Approximately 50% of cases of bacterial arthritis occur in childhood. Currently Kingella kingae is considered as an emerging pathogen.

Clinical Case: A ten month old male patient presented joint immobility in right knee.

Hypocalcemia in a paediatric case: from the clinical features to diagnosis.

Pseudohypoparathyroidism refers to end-organ resistance that primarily impairs the renal actions of parathyroid hormone (PTH), a key regulator of calcium homeostasis. Its diagnosis is complex because of the multiple variants of this entity, and more so because intravenous PTH is not available for the Ellsworth-Howard test. We report a symptomatic paediatric case of hypocalcaemia, the clinical features of which, and the course after treatment, suggest that it is most probably a case of pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ib.

[26 year-old male patient with bone marrow transplantation. Report of a partial autopsy].

26 year-old male patient with diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2006, who underwent chemotherapy and suffered a relapse and pulmonary aspergillosis as a complication. In 2009, he received bone marrow transplant. After it, he developed cutaneous and intestinal graft versus host disease (GVH).