Healthcare-acquired clusters of COVID-19 across multiple wards in a Scottish health board.

Background: Healthcare-acquired COVID-19 has been an additional burden on hospitals managing increasing numbers of patients with SARS-CoV-2. One acute hospital (W) among three in a Scottish healthboard experienced an unexpected surge of COVID-19 clusters.

Aim: To investigate possible causes of COVID-19 clusters at Hospital W.

Impact of visitation and cohorting policies to shield residents from covid-19 spread in care homes: an agent-based model.

Background: This study examines the impact of visitation and cohorting policies as well as the care home population size upon the spread of COVID-19 and the risk of outbreak occurrence in this setting.

Methods: Agent-based modelling RESULTS: The likelihood of the presence of an outbreak in a care home is associated with the care home population size. Cohorting of residents and staff into smaller, self-contained units reduces the spread of COVID-19.

Evaluating intervention strategies in controlling coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread in care homes: An agent-based model.

Background: Care homes are vulnerable to widespread transmission of severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with poor outcomes for staff and residents. Infection control interventions in care homes need to not only be effective in containing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) but also feasible to implement in this special setting which is both a healthcare institution and a home.

Methods: We developed an agent-based model that simulates the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 via contacts between individuals, including residents, staff members, and visitors in a care home setting.

The utility of proadrenomedullin and procalcitonin in comparison to C-reactive protein as predictors of sepsis and bloodstream infections in critically ill patients with cancer*.

Objectives: Infections in critically ill patients continue to impose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We seek to investigate the utility of proadrenomedullin and procalcitonin as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in febrile critically ill patients with cancer and compare their performance with that of C-reactive protein.

Design: Single-center prospective cohort study.

US practitioner opinions and prescribing practices regarding corticosteroid therapy for severe sepsis and septic shock.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine opinions and practices of US critical care practitioners (USCCPs) toward corticosteroid therapy in adult patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.

Materials And Methods: A multicenter, electronic survey of USCCP members of the Society of Critical Care Medicine was conducted between March 18 and July 31, 2009.

Results: A total of 542 USCCPs responded to the survey.

Legionella longbeachae serogroup 1 infections linked to potting compost.

Four cases of legionellosis caused by Legionella longbeachae serogroup (sg) 1 were identified in Scotland from 2008 to 2010. All case patients had exposure to commercially manufactured growing media or potting soils, commonly known as multipurpose compost (MPC), in greenhouse conditions, prior to disease onset. Two patients had been using the same brand of MPC but the clinical isolates were distinct genotypically by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis.

Novel approach using antimicrobial catheters to improve the management of central line-associated bloodstream infections in cancer patients.

Background: Central venous catheter (CVC) removal has often been recommended for the treatment of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). However, CVC removal is not always practical in patients with cancer, and changing CVCs with noncoated CVCs over guidewire may result in cross-infection of the new CVC. Therefore, the current matched retrospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of exchanging infected CVCs for minocycline- and rifampin (MR)-coated CVCs in cancer patients with CLABSIs.

Critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency in cancer patients.

Purpose: Critically ill cancer patients with sepsis represent a high-risk sub-group for the development of critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency (CIRCI); however, the incidence of CIRCI in this population is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of CIRCI in cancer patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.

Methods: A single-center, retrospective, observational study was conducted in a 52-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit of a National Cancer Institute-recognized academic oncology institution.

Clinical effectiveness and risk of emerging resistance associated with prolonged use of antibiotic-impregnated catheters: more than 0.5 million catheter days and 7 years of clinical experience.

Objectives: Catheters coated with minocycline and rifampin are proven to decrease the rates of central line-associated bloodstream infection; however, it is unclear whether success occurs independent of other infection control precautions. We evaluated the effect of catheters coated with minocycline and rifampin with and without other infection control precautions on our rates of central line-associated bloodstream infection in critically ill patients and on antibiotic resistance throughout the hospital and in the intensive care unit.

Design: Retrospective clinical cohort study conducted during 1999-2006 with an observational laboratory component.

A cluster of Legionnaires' disease caused by Legionella longbeachae linked to potting compost in Scotland, 2008-2009.

Three cases of Legionnaires disease caused by Legionella longbeachae Sg 1 associated with potting compost have been reported in Scotland between 2008 and 2009. The exact method of transmission is still not fully understood as Legionnaires disease is thought to be acquired by droplet inhalation. The linked cases associated with compost exposure call for an introduction of compost labelling, as is already in place in other countries where L.

Multisystem crisis in a patient with presumptive renal cell carcinoma.

We describe the case of a patient who presented with a kidney lesion, lymphadenopathy, and bone metastasis. He developed a tetrad of high fever, encephalopathy, labile blood pressure, and multiple organ system failure. Initially, he was diagnosed with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC).