Hospital carpeting and epidemiology of Clostridium difficile.

Background: Clostridium difficile is the usual and most important cause of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous enterocolitis. The source of nosocomial acquisition of the organism in nonepidemic settings has not been determined.

Methods: Epidemiologic and microbiologic studies were conducted in a community-teaching hospital complex to assess the impact of carpeting in patient rooms on environmental contamination with C.

Group G streptococcal endocarditis and bacteremia.

This report describes fifteen recent cases of group G streptococcal bacteremia in patients with acute illnesses. Seven patients had acute endocarditis (47 percent). Four deaths occurred, and four patients had significant clinical complications during prolonged stormy courses.

Omental anisakiasis: a rare mimic of acute appendicitis.

The authors recently encountered a patient with omental anisakiasis who presented with features of acute appendicitis and who made an uneventful recovery following resection of an inflammatory omental mass containing the larva(e). Anisakiasis refers to infestation of humans by species of marine nematode larvae belonging to the subfamily Anisakinae. Although this condition is rarely reported in the United States, it has been well described both in Holland and in the Orient.

The effects of subinhibitory concentrations of various antibiotics on phagocytosis of Streptococcus faecalis.

This study reports the effects of subinhibitory concentrations of the antibiotics, clindamycin, gentamicin, moxalactam, and penicillin G, against 6 blood isolates of Streptococcus faecalis to determine possible enhancement of phagocytosis. In addition, combinations of penicillin G plus streptomycin, penicillin G and gentamicin, and clindamycin plus gentamicin were studied to determine synergistic growth inhibition. Results suggest no observable effect in phagocytosis from subinhibitory concentrations of the studied antibiotics singly or in combination.

Establishment of minimum inhibitory concentrations of cefoperazone for control and reference anaerobic organisms.

The minimum inhibitory concentrations of cefoperazone were determined in a collaborative study for eight National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards control and reference strains of anaerobic bacteria by agar and microdilution techniques with several types and sources of media. Recommended minimum inhibitory concentrations for the control strains, Bacteroides fragilis ATCC 25285 and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron ATCC 29741, are 32 to 64 micrograms/ml and 64 micrograms/ml, respectively. Clostridium perfringens ATCC 13124 gave inconsistent results, and no value is recommended.

Infective endocarditis in a community hospital.

Recent reviews from major university centers of infective endocarditis have stressed an increase in unusual infections owing to virulent pathogens. This article compares the 40 episodes of infective endocarditis at a community hospital complex with the recent literature. It was observed that the majority of infecting microorganisms were penicillin-susceptible streptococci similar to those seen in the early antibiotic era.

The adherence of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in patients with sepsis.

Adherence of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) to nylon in patients with bacteremia was studied using a whole-blood assay. Adherence of PMNLs was studied in blood obtained from patients who were not in shock; the results did not differ from the control values (70.9% +/- 4.

Acute transverse myelitis due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection.

We examined a woman who had acute transverse myelopathy (ATM) associated with respiratory illness due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae. To our knowledge, only one previously described case documented this relationship with serologic studies of spinal fluid. Since 16% to 35% of ATM patients experience antecedent respiratory illness, evidence of M pneumoniae infection should be sought in all cases.