Diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in hematology and oncology--guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Working Party in Haematology and Oncology of the German Society for Haematology and Oncology (AGIHO).

Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) are a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with hematological malignancies. Establishing a definite diagnosis of IFI in immunocompromised patients is particularly challenging and time consuming, but delayed initiation of antifungal treatment increases mortality. The limited overall outcome has led to the strategy of initiating either 'empirical' or 'preemptive' antifungal therapy before the final diagnosis.

Treatment of invasive fungal infections in cancer patients--recommendations of the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Oncology (DGHO).

Invasive fungal infections are a main cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy regimens. Early antifungal treatment is mandatory to improve survival. Today, a number of effective and better-tolerated but more expensive antifungal agents compared to the former gold standard amphotericin B deoxycholate are available.

Leprosy in a pregnant woman.

Herein, we describe a case of leprosy in a 29-year-old pregnant southeast-asian woman who presented with joint pain and multiple disseminated erythematous macules, papules and plaques. Histological examination and stains for acid-fast bacilli from skin biopsies substantiated the clinical suspicion of a cutaneous mycobacterial disease and both should be performed in all patients with unidentified skin lesions. The definitive laboratory diagnosis of leprosy was achieved by the application of a species-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction from infected tissue.

Mixed diarrhoeal infection caused by Vibrio cholerae and several other enteric pathogens in a 4-year-old child returning to Germany from Pakistan.

We report a mixed enteric infection in a 4-y-old child who returned from Pakistan with fever, vomiting and profuse diarrhoea leading to severe dehydration. Vibrio cholerae O1, Salmonella paratyphi A and Campylobacter coli were cultured from stool. Furthermore, Giardia lamblia antigen and hepatitis A RNA were detected.

Lymphadenitis cervicalis due to Mycobacterium interjectum in immunocompetent children.

Unlabelled: This report presents two cases of cervical lymphadenitis due to Mycobacterium interjectum in healthy young children, identified by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Surgical resection combined with chemotherapy resulted in cure.

Conclusion: The attention of clinicians needs to be drawn to an emerging mycobacterial pathogen which might be overlooked or misidentified in routine laboratory testing.