The bacterial pathogen and resistance spectrum in a dermatological inpatient ward: a six-year, retrospective, epidemiological study.

Aim: Treatment of bacterial soft tissue infections is an essential part of clinical dermatology, and the choice of antibiotic therapy is often empirical. The aim of this longitudinal retrospective study was to evaluate bacterial epidemiology, resistance patterns and antibiotic consumption in a dermatological inpatient ward.

Method: Bacterial isolates and antimicrobial susceptibility testing from a dermatological inpatient ward were recorded retrospectively from 2011 to 2016.

Findings from an outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae emphasize the role of antibiotic treatment for cross transmission.

Purpose: In January 2015, we noticed by rectal swab analyses that seven of 23 patients at an early rehabilitation ward had been colonized with carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CKP). Here, we describe risk factors for CKP acquisition.

Methods: In the present study, the outbreak is described and risk factors for CKP acquisition are examined, e.

Chronic Paracoccidioidomycosis with adrenal involvement mimicking tuberculosis - A case report from Austria.

Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic fungal infection caused by and endemic in certain areas of Central and South America. We report a case of a 62-year-old-man with a complex history of tuberculosis and imaging findings of a cerebral lesion and bilateral adrenal enlargement. Biopsy of adrenal gland revealed .

Long term monitoring of three automated HIV 4th generation combined antibody/antigen screening assays.

In a diagnostic laboratory performing analyses for about 40 hospitals and 2,000 physicians treating outpatients results of HIV 4th generation combined antibody/antigen screening assays were monitored over a period of 50 months. In period A (Jan 2007 - Mar 2009) 37,986 serum samples were examined by Architect and in period B (Apr 2009 - Feb 2011) 38,178 samples by Modular system. In period B1 (Apr 2009 - Jun 2010) 24,756 samples were analyzed only by Modular system while in period B2 (July 2010 - February 2011) 13,422 samples were examined in parallel by Modular and Axsym system.

"Blind periods" in screening for toxoplasmosis in pregnancy in Austria - a debate.

Recent studies from Austria, France and Italy have shown that there is a poor adherence to the screening scheme for maternal Toxoplasma infections in pregnancy demonstrated by the fact that many recommended examinations are missed. This leads to undetected infections and limits our knowledge of incidence of the disease. We discuss the negative consequences of this situation on research on treatment effectiveness and the outcomes of congenital toxoplasmosis.

Incidence of maternal Toxoplasma infections in pregnancy in Upper Austria, 2000-2007.

Background: Despite three decades of prenatal screening program for toxoplasmosis in Austria, population-based estimates for the incidence of maternal infections with Toxoplasma gondii during pregnancy are lacking. We studied the incidence of primary maternal infections during pregnancy in the Federal State of Upper Austria.

Methods: Screening tests for 63,416 women and over 90,000 pregnancies (more than 84.

Rubella in Austria 2008-2009: no longer a typical childhood disease.

Background: In February 2009, a cluster of rubella cases was recognized in Austria occurring between calendar weeks 3 and 7, 2009 after a long period of low rubella virus activity. A nationwide 2-dose measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination program had been introduced in 1994 to prevent this childhood illness.

Methods: An epidemiologic investigation was conducted to describe the cluster by time, place, and person.

Prescriptions of broad-spectrum antibiotics to outpatients do not match increased prevalence and antibiotic resistance of respiratory pathogens in Bavaria.

In this study we present an analysis of prescription numbers of various antibiotic classes to Bavarian (Southern Germany) outpatients between 2000 and 2006 compared to fluctuating resistance patterns in representative respiratory pathogens. Prescriptions of "narrow-spectrum" antibiotics (e.g.

Mixture model to assess the extent of cross-transmission of multidrug-resistant pathogens in hospitals.

Objective: Creation of a mixture model based on Poisson processes for assessment of the extent of cross-transmission of multidrug-resistant pathogens in the hospital.

Methods: We propose a 2-component mixture of Poisson processes to describe the time series of detected cases of colonization. The first component describes the admission process of patients with colonization, and the second describes the cross-transmission.

Evaluation of the Abbott ARCHITECT Toxo IgM assay.

Development of the ARCHITECT Toxo IgM assay has been done to assist the clinician in acute Toxoplasma gondii infection detection, especially in pregnant women. Its use, in conjunction with ARCHITECT Toxo IgG and Toxo Avidity assays, will provide an array of assays particularly useful in the monitoring of pregnant females to determine the risk of maternal transmission of the parasite. Specificity results from 2 testing sites, using populations of pregnant females, hospital patients, and blood donors, demonstrated that the assay has an overall resolved relative specificity of 99.

Ciprofloxacin treatment of urinary infections results in increased resistance of urinary E. coli to ciprofloxacin and co-trimoxazole.

Between 2000 and 2006 the sum of ciprofloxacin and folic acid antagonists prescriptions to Bavarian (South-eastern Gemany) outpatients stayed constant. However, prescription numbers of ciprofloxacin increased while those of folic acid antagonists decreased suggesting an apparent shift in the treatment of urinary infections toward ciprofloxacin. During the observation period the proportion of E.

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci outbreak, Germany, and calculation of outbreak start.

On the basis of a large outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in a German university hospital, we estimated costs ( approximately 1 million Euros) that could have been avoided by early detection of the imminent outbreak. For this purpose, we demonstrate an easy-to-use statistical method.