[Recommendations for the use of rapid diagnosis techniques in respiratory infections in primary care]. / Recomendaciones de utilización de técnicas de diagnóstico rápido en infecciones respiratorias en atención primaria.

Respiratory tract infections rank first as causes of adult and paediatric infectious morbidity in primary care in Spain. These infections are usually self-limiting and are mainly caused by viruses. However, a high percentage of unnecessary antibiotic prescription is reported. Point-of-care tests are biomedical tests, which can be used near the patient, without interference of a laboratory. The use of these tests, many of which have been recently developed, is rapidly increasing in general practice. Notwithstanding, we must mull over whether they always contribute to an effective and high-quality diagnostic process by primary care clinicians. We present a set of criteria that can be used by clinicians and discuss the pros and cons of the instruments available for the management of respiratory tract infections and how to use them appropriately.

Biomarker Tools to Design Clinical Vaccines Determined from a Study of Annual Listeriosis Incidence in Northern Spain.

Two regions of northern Spain, Gipuzkoa, and Cantabria present high annual incidence of listeriosis (1.86 and 1.71 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively). We report that the high annual incidences are a consequence of infection with highly virulent Listeria monocytogenes isolates linked to fatal outcomes in elderly patients with cancer. In addition, listeriosis patients with cancer present low IL-17A/IL-6 ratios and significantly reduced levels of anti-GAPDH1-22 antibodies, identified as two novel biomarkers of poor prognosis. Analysis of these biomarkers may aid in reducing the incidence of listeriosis. Moreover, GAPDH1-22-activated monocyte-derived dendritic cells of listeriosis patients with cancer seem useful tools to prepare clinical vaccines as they produce mainly Th1 cytokines.