Routine Ertapenem Prophylaxis for Transrectal Ultrasound Guided Prostate Biopsy does Not Select for Carbapenem Resistant Organisms: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Purpose: Sepsis after transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy is an increasing problem in this era of rising antibiotic resistance. Although ertapenem prophylaxis has proved effective at our institution to reduce this, it has raised local and regional antimicrobial stewardship concerns. We investigated the possible selective effect of single dose ertapenem prophylaxis on fecal colonization with carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

Molecular testing for viral and bacterial enteric pathogens: gold standard for viruses, but don't let culture go just yet?

Contemporary diagnostic microbiology is increasingly adopting molecular methods as front line tests for a variety of samples. This trend holds true for detection of enteric pathogens (EP), where nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) for viruses are well established as the gold standard, and an increasing number of commercial multi-target assays are now available for bacteria and parasites. NAAT have significant sensitivity and turnaround time advantages over traditional methods, potentially returning same-day results.

Mortality in Clostridium difficile infection: a prospective analysis of risk predictors.

Objectives: To date, the vast majority of studies investigating risk factors for mortality in Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) have been based on retrospective, routinely collected data, and have not specifically tested the capacity of risk factors to predict outcome. We aimed to prospectively evaluate predictors of mortality in patients with CDI, utilizing established metrics of risk prediction to assess their ability to prognosticate.

Patients And Methods: We collected a cohort of all patients diagnosed with CDI at Addenbrooke's Hospital in 2010.