Hearing Outcomes in the Audiology Department of a Children Hospital.

The incidence of sensorineural hearing loss is between 1 and 3 per 1000 in healthy neonates and 2-4 per 100 in high-risk infants. In this study, we assessed the incidence of hearing impairment in normal term (≥ 37 wga) infants (control group), in children with suspicion and/or risk factors of hearing loss, included premature infants (< 37 weeks gestational age (wga) and/or low birth weight < 2,5 Kgr), in children diagnosed with a specific syndrome and in children with speech disorder, candidate for speech therapy. Hearing impairment is a severe consequence of prematurity and its prevalence is inversely related to the maturity of the baby based on gestation age and /or birth weight. Both above parameters are of particular importance and it has not been found that one factor prevails over the other. Premature infants have many concomitant risk factors for hearing impairment. The most important other risk factors were ototoxic medications, very low birth weight and "treatment in the intensive care unit '' (low Apgar score and mechanical ventilation). Frequent risk factors such as congenital infections and family history of hearing loss, although frequently recorded, does not seem to be very significant. Children with speech disorder do not seem to suffer from hearing impairment more frequently than children in general population.

Fosfomycin: use beyond urinary tract and gastrointestinal infections.

The shortage of new antimicrobial agents has made the scientific community reconsider the potential value of old antibiotics. A search of the literature was performed to compile relevant evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of fosfomycin for the treatment of patients with gram-positive and/or gram-negative bacterial infections (excluding urinary tract infection and gastrointestinal infection). Of 1311 potentially relevant studies, 62 studies were reviewed in detail. Of 1604 patients with various gram-positive and gram-negative infections of various body sites (including pneumonia and other respiratory infections; osteomyelitis; meningitis; ear, nose, and throat infections; surgical infections; obstetric and gynecological infections; arthritis; septicemia; peritonitis; cervical lymphadenitis; eye infections; diabetic foot infections; and typhoid fever) being treated with fosfomycin alone or in combination with other antibiotics, cure was achieved in 1302 (81.1%) of the patients, and improvement was noted in 47 (2.9%). In comparative perioperative prophylaxis trials that included a total of 1212 patients (mainly patients undergoing colorectal surgery), the fosfomycin-metronidazole combination led to results that were similar to those achieved with the combination of other antibiotics (doxycycline, ampicillin, or cephalothin) and metronidazole. In an era in which there is a shortage of new antibiotics, fosfomycin might be considered to be an alternative treatment agent for infections caused by gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, in addition to its traditional use in treating uncomplicated urinary tract and gastrointestinal infections. Further research on the in vitro antimicrobial activity of fosfomycin, especially against multidrug-resistant pathogens (such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing and/or metallo-beta-lactamase-producing enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and on the effectiveness and safety of the drug in the treatment of patients with such infections may be warranted.