Nosocomial Rhinocerebral Mucormycosis: Two Cases with a Temporal Relationship.

Mucormycosis is an unusual fungal infection that usually affects immunosuppressed patients. Small outbreaks of mucormycosis have been previously reported. We present two clinical cases of fatal rhinocerebral mucormycosis with a close temporal relationship between them and a possible nosocomial transmission: case 1 was a 75-year-old male with diabetes and COPD, treated with antibiotics and systemic corticosteroids, who developed rhinocerebral mucormycosis.

Implementation and monitoring of a quality management system based on the standard UNE-EN-ISO 15189 in a urine culture unit.

Objectives: To evaluate the implementation of a quality management system based on ISO-15189 in a urine culture unit.

Design And Methods: The effectiveness of improvement actions was measured by quality indicators.

Results: The errors in the pre-analytical phase and the rate of contaminated urine decreased significantly.

Development and preliminary evaluation of a rapid oligochromatographic assay for specific detection of new human influenza A H1N1 virus.

A new oligochromatographic assay, Speed-Oligo Novel Influenza A H1N1, was designed and optimized for the specific detection of the 2009 influenza A H1N1 virus. The assay is based on a PCR method coupled to detection of PCR products by means of a dipstick device. The target sequence is a 103-bp fragment within the hemagglutinin gene.