LInezolid Monitoring to MInimise Toxicity (LIMMIT1): A multicentre retrospective review of patients receiving linezolid therapy and the impact of therapeutic drug monitoring.

Background: Linezolid is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial with limited use due to toxicity. This study aimed to evaluate linezolid toxicity in a large multicentre cohort. Secondary objectives were to identify factors contributing to toxicity, including the impact of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM).

Maintenance of broad neutralizing antibodies and memory B cells 1 year post-infection is predicted by SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cell responses.

Understanding the long-term maintenance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunity is critical for predicting protection against reinfection. In an age- and gender-matched cohort of 24 participants, the association of disease severity and early immune responses on the maintenance of humoral immunity 12 months post-infection is examined. All severely affected participants maintain a stable subset of SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific memory B cells (MBCs) and good neutralizing antibody breadth against the majority of the variants of concern, including the Delta variant.

Carbon emissions and hospital pathology stewardship: a retrospective cohort analysis.

Background: As healthcare is responsible for 7% of Australia's carbon emissions, it was recognised that a policy implemented at St George Hospital, Sydney, to reduce non-urgent pathology testing to 2 days per week and, on other days only if essential, would also result in a reduction in carbon emissions. The aim of the study was to measure the impact of this intervention on pathology collections and associated carbon emissions and pathology costs.

Aims: To measure the impact of an intervention to reduce unnecessary testing on pathology collections and associated carbon emissions and pathology costs.

Cluster of invasive Mycobacteria chimaera infections following cardiac surgery demonstrating novel clinical features and risks of aortic valve replacement.

There is a global outbreak of infections due to Mycobacterium chimaera associated with cardiac surgery. The most serious infections involve prosthetic material implantation, and all have followed surgical procedures involving cardiopulmonary bypass. We describe a cluster of four cases following cardiac surgery at a tertiary referral centre in Sydney, Australia.

Sustained multimodal antimicrobial stewardship in an Australian tertiary intensive care unit from 2008-2015: an interrupted time-series analysis.

The long-term outcomes and sustainability of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in the intensive care unit (ICU) require evaluation. This study analysed the effect of a multimodal ICU AMS introduced in a 15-bed medical-surgical tertiary Australian adult ICU in November 2008, using interrupted time-series analysis of antibiotic usage, Gram-negative resistance and cost from November 2005 to October 2015, including national ICU average usage as a control. Overall ICU mortality, 30-day blood stream infection (BSI) mortality and length of stay (LOS) were compared over the same period.

Cervicitis: a prospective observational study of empiric azithromycin treatment in women with cervicitis and non-specific cervicitis.

Treatment with 1 G azithromycin was observed prospectively in 130 women with cervicitis (>30 polymorphonuclear leucocytes/high-powered field) enrolled in a cervicitis aetiology study of 558 women at three sexually transmitted infection clinics in Sydney, Australia. Two overlapping groups of women with cervicitis were considered: 'cervicitis group 1' (n = 116) excluded women with Trichomonas vaginalis and a subgroup of this, 'cervicitis group 2' (non-specific cervicitis) (n = 96) further excluded women with Neisseria gonorrhoea, Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium at enrolment. Testing for Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium and Trichomonas vaginalis was by PCR and Neisseria gonorrhoea by PCR and culture.

Cervicitis aetiology and case definition: a study in Australian women attending sexually transmitted infection clinics.

Objectives: Studies examining cervicitis aetiology and prevalence lack comparability due to varying criteria for cervicitis. We aimed to outline cervicitis associations and suggest a best case definition.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 558 women at three sexually transmitted infection clinics in Sydney, Australia, 2006-2010, examined pathogen and behavioural associations of cervicitis using three cervicitis definitions: 'microscopy' (>30 pmnl/hpf (polymorphonuclear leucocytes per high-powered field on cervical Gram stain)), 'cervical discharge' (yellow and/or mucopurulent cervical discharge) or 'micro+cervical discharge' (combined 'microscopy' and 'cervical discharge').

Pyelonephritis: what are the present day causative organisms and antibiotic susceptibilities?

Aim: Infections of the lower urinary tract and acute pyelonephritis are commonly encountered in clinical practice. Widespread usage of antibiotics and changing susceptibility profiles of uropathogens requires regular review of treatment guidelines to meet these challenges. We aimed to better understand the prevalence of uropathogens and emerging antibiotic resistance in patients with pyelonephritis requiring hospital admission.

What proportion of sexually transmissible infections and HIV are diagnosed in New South Wales' public sexual health services compared with other services?

Background: In New South Wales (NSW), publicly funded sexual health services (PFSHSs) target the populations at greatest risk for important sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and so may make a large contribution to the diagnosis of notifiable STIs. We aimed to determine the proportions of STIs diagnosed in PFSHSs and notified to the NSW Ministry of Health in 2009, and describe geographical variations.

Methods: The number of notifiable STIs (infectious syphilis, gonorrhoea, HIV and chlamydia) diagnosed in 2009 was obtained for each Area Health Service (AHS) and each PFSHS.

Pharyngeal Gonorrhoea in Women: An Important Reservoir for Increasing Neisseria gonorrhoea Prevalence in Urban Australian Heterosexuals?

We aim to characterize sexual behavioral aspects of heterosexual Neisseria gonorrhoea (NG) acquisition in two Sexually Transmitted Diseases clinics in Sydney, Australia, in 2008-2012. Of 167 NG cases, 102 were heterosexually acquired with a trend of increasing NG prevalence in heterosexuals from 1.1% (95% CI 0.

Trichomonas vaginalis: underdiagnosis in urban Australia could facilitate re-emergence.

Objectives: Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) has a low profile in urban sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics in many developed countries. The objective of this study was to determine the true prevalence of TV in an Australian urban sexual health setting using sensitive molecular diagnostic techniques.

Methods: A cross-sectional study investigating the aetiology of cervicitis in women attending two urban sexual health clinics in Sydney, Australia, enrolled 356 consecutive eligible women from 2006 to 2008.

Primary health care providers surveyed commonly misinterpret 'first void urine' for chlamydia screening.

An open question survey of general practitioners (GP) and hospital emergency department (ED) doctors revealed that the term 'FVU' (first void urine) used for urine chlamydia testing, is ambiguous, potentially leading to incorrect urine sample collection and barriers to effective screening. The results of this survey indicate that only 4.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.

Dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome causing disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome is an idiosyncratic reaction to this drug and can present with different clinical manifestations of varying severity. We describe a patient with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) as an adverse reaction to dapsone. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time it has been described in the literature.

Current features of infective endocarditis in elderly patients: results of the International Collaboration on Endocarditis Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Elderly patients are emerging as a population at high risk for infective endocarditis (IE). However, adequately sized prospective studies on the features of IE in elderly patients are lacking.

Methods: In this multinational, prospective, observational cohort study within the International Collaboration on Endocarditis, 2759 consecutive patients were enrolled from June 15, 2000, to December 1, 2005; 1056 patients with IE 65 years or older were compared with 1703 patients younger than 65 years.

Cervicitis: a review.

Purpose Of Review: Sexually transmitted infections impact significantly on global health. Whereas Chlamydia, Neisseria gonorrhoea and syphilis have been extensively examined, there remains a paucity of knowledge of nonchlamydial and nongonococcal cervicitis, an arguably more prevalent but poorly characterized condition with uncertain clinical implications. With increasing application of molecular diagnostic methods for the detection of sexually transmitted infections and a growing body of literature on cervicitis, a review is timely.

Hemopoietic cells with features of the mast cell and basophil lineages and their potential role in allergy.

Human mast cells (MCs) and basophils play a key role in the pathogenesis of allergic disorders, not only by producing inflammatory and fibrogenic mediators, but also by directly and indirectly secreting various cytokines and chemokines. Although mast cells and basophils have differences in many properties, recent evidence suggests that human MCs and basophils may be derived from a common progenitor, and their contents and phenotypes may be reversibly altered in a variety of allergic disorders. The study of FcetaRI signalling of mast cell and basophils offers new opportunities for therapeutic interventions based on the specific inhibition of the earliest events in allergic diseases.