Factors Influencing Atypical Clinical Presentations during the 2017 Madagascar Pneumonic Plague Outbreak: A Prospective Cohort Study.

In late 2017, Madagascar experienced a large urban outbreak of pneumonic plague, the largest outbreak to date this century. During the outbreak, there were widespread reports of plague patients presenting with atypical symptoms, such as prolonged duration of illness and upper respiratory tract symptoms. Reported mortality among plague cases was also substantially lower than that reported in the literature (25% versus 50% in treated patients). A prospective multicenter observational study was carried out to investigate potential reasons for these atypical presentations. Few subjects among our cohort had confirmed or probable plague, suggesting that, in part, there was overdiagnosis of plague cases by clinicians. However, 35% subjects reported using an antibiotic with anti-plague activity before hospital admission, whereas 55% had antibiotics with anti-plague activity detected in their serum at admission. Although there may have been overdiagnosis of plague by clinicians during the outbreak, the high frequency of community antibiotic may partly explain the relatively few culture-positive sputum samples during the outbreak. Community antibiotic use may have also altered the clinical presentation of plague patients. These issues make accurate detection of patients and the development of clinical case definitions and triage algorithms in urban pneumonic plague outbreaks difficult.

Incidence and outcome of contrast-associated acute kidney injury in a mixed medical-surgical ICU population: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Contrast-enhanced radiographic examinations carry the risk of contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI). While CA-AKI is a well-known complication outside the intensive care unit (ICU) setting, data on CA-AKI in ICU patients are scarce. Our aim was to assess the incidence and short-term outcome of CA-AKI in a mixed medical-surgical ICU population. METHODS: We conducted a single-center retrospective analysis between September 2006 and December 2008 on adult patients who underwent a contrast-enhanced computed tomography for urgent diagnostic purposes. CA-AKI was defined as either a relative increment in serum creatinine of ≥ 25% or an absolute increment in serum creatinine of ≥ 0.3 mg/dL within 48 hrs after contrast administration. ICU mortality rates of patients with and without CA-AKI were compared in univariate and multivariate analyses. The need for renal replacement therapy (RRT) was also recorded. RESULTS: CA-AKI occurred in 24/143 (16.8%) patients. Coexisting risk factors for kidney injury, such as sepsis, nephrotoxic drugs and hemodynamic failure were commonly observed in patients who developed CA-AKI. ICU mortality was significantly higher in patients with than in those without CA-AKI (50% vs 21%, p = 0.004). In multivariate logistic regression, CA-AKI remained associated with ICU mortality (odds ratio: 3.48, 95% confidence interval: 1.10-11.46, p = 0.04). RRT was required in 7 (29.2%) patients with CA-AKI. CONCLUSIONS: In our cohort, CA-AKI was a frequent complication. It was associated with a poor short-term outcome and seemed to occur mainly when multiple risk factors for kidney injury were present. Administration of ICM should be considered as a potential high-risk procedure and not as a routine innocuous practice in ICU patients.