Clinical aspects and risk factors of nosocomial Stenotrophomonas maltophilia bacteremia episodes in a Turkish intensive care unit.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an important nosocomial pathogen with increasing frequency in recent years, especially in immunocompromised and clinically debilitated patients. The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of 35 episodes of S. maltophilia bacteremia at Celal Bayar University hospital in Turkey over a 3-year period from January 2003 to December 2005. Cases were identified with microbiology laboratory records and clinical data were collected from the medical record of each patient. The source of bacteremia was central venous catheter (CVC) in 65.7% (23) and respiratory tract infection in 2.9% (1) of episodes while the source of bacteremia was unknown in 11 (31.4%) episodes of bacteremia. Factors significantly associated with mortality were age of > or =65 years, APACHE score of > or =16, the presence of the total parenteral nutrition, anemia, low creatinine clearance level and shock. The most sensitive antibiotic was found as trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (91.4%) in antibiotic susceptibility testing of the isolates. Susceptibilities of piperacillin-tazobactam and netilmicin which frequently used antibiotics as an empirical therapy were 62.8% and 68.6%, respectively.

Case of Lemierre's syndrome presenting with thyroid abscess.

Lemierre's syndrome is an uncommon condition characterized by post-anginal septicemia due to anaerobes. Reported here is a case of Lemierre's syndrome presenting with thyroid and liver abscesses. At presentation, the 70-year-old female patient complained of fever, jaundice and neck pain. Computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound confirmed the presence of a left-sided internal jugular vein thrombosis as well as abscesses in the left thyroid lobe and the right lobe of the liver with pleural effusion. The thyroid abscess was treated with a left lobectomy.