Pseudozyma and other non-Candida opportunistic yeast bloodstream infections in a large stem cell transplant center.

Non-Candida opportunistic yeasts are emerging causes of bloodstream infection (BSI) in immunocompromised hosts. However, their clinical presentation, management, and outcomes in stem cell transplant (SCT) recipients are not well described. We report the first case to our knowledge of Pseudozyma BSI in a SCT recipient. He had evidence of cutaneous involvement, which has not been previously described in the literature. He became infected while neutropenic and receiving empiric micafungin, which is notable because Pseudozyma is reported to be resistant to echinocandins. He was successfully treated with the sequential use of liposomal amphotericin B and voriconazole. A review of the literature revealed nine reported instances of Pseudozyma fungemia. We performed a retrospective review of 3557 SCT recipients at our institution from January 2000 to June 2015 and identified four additional cases of non-Candida yeast BSIs. These include two with Cryptococcus, one with Trichosporon, and one with Saccharomyces. Pseudozyma and other non-Candida yeasts are emerging pathogens that can cause severe and disseminated infections in SCT recipients and other immunocompromised hosts. Clinicians should have a high degree of suspicion for echinocandin-resistant yeasts, if patients develop breakthrough yeast BSIs while receiving echinocandin therapy.

Actinobaculum schaalii bacteremia: A report of two cases.

We report two cases of bacteremia with Actinobaculum schaalii, a rarely reported, anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. The first case was a patient with renal cancer who developed pyelonephritis after cryoablation, and the second was a patient who developed sepsis after a urogenital procedure. Bacteremia resolved after administration of empiric antibiotic therapy.

Impact of metagenomic next-generation sequencing on clinical decision-making at an academic medical center, a retrospective study, Iowa, 2020-2022.

We assessed the impact of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) on patient care using previously established criteria. Among 37 patients receiving mNGS testing, 16% showed results that had a positive clinical impact. While mNGS results may offer valuable supplementary information, results should be interpreted within the broader clinical context and evaluation.

All aboard the ChatGPT steamroller: Top 10 ways to make artificial intelligence work for healthcare professionals.

Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), the flagship generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot by OpenAI, is transforming many things in medicine, from healthcare and research to medical education. It is anticipated to integrate in many aspects of the medical industry, and we should brace for this inevitability and use it to our advantage. Here are proposed ways you can use ChatGPT in medicine with some specific use cases in antimicrobial stewardship and hospital epidemiology.

Infectious Gastroenteritis in Transplant Patients.

Infectious gastroenteritis is common after transplantation and can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. A wide range of organisms can lead to gastroenteritis in this patient population. Clostridioides difficile, cytomegalovirus, and norovirus are the most common pathogens. Newer diagnostic methods, especially multiplex polymerase chain reaction, have increased the diagnostic yield of infectious etiologies. In this review, we describe the epidemiology and risk factors for common infectious pathogens leading to gastroenteritis.

The occurrence of infective endocarditis with Staphylococcus lugdunensis bacteremia: A retrospective cohort study and systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus lugdunensis is a coagulase-negative staphylococcus with similar virulence characteristics as Staphylococcus aureus. Whether S. lugdunensis causes infective endocarditis (IE) in a similar proportion of cases as S. aureus (reported to be 12.6% in a definitive multicenter prospective study) is unclear. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult patients with at least one blood culture positive for S. lugdunensis at our institution from January 2006 to December 2014. We examined microbiology data, ascertained disease severity and determined the proportion of patients with definite or possible IE based on the 2000 Modified Duke Criteria. Because coagulase-negative staphylococci were routinely identified to the species level at our institution from 2012 onwards, we determined the proportion of patients with definite or possible IE before and after implementation of routine speciation. We also compared our results with reported proportions of IE among patients with S. lugdunensis bacteremia (SLB) in other institutions by conducting a systematic review of the scientific literature. Nonparametric bootstrapping methods were performed to determine 95% confidence intervals (CI) for proportions of IE in patients with SLB. RESULTS: Seventy-four patients with SLB were identified, of whom 64% (47/74) had sepsis by SIRS criteria, and 18% (13/74) had severe illness by Pittsburgh bacteremia score (PBS). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that one-year survival among patients with severe illness was worse than patients with non-severe illness (p = 0.02). Fifteen percent (11/74) of patients had definite or possible IE (95% CI 6.8-23.0%). The proportion of SLB patients with definite or possible IE was 15.8% (6/38, 95% CI 5.3-28.9%) prior to routine speciation and 13.9% (5/36, 95% CI 2.8-27.8%) after routine speciation (p = 0.71). Among patients with at least two positive blood cultures for S. lugdunensis, 25% (10/40, 95% CI 12.5-40.0%) had IE. Systematic review of the literature yielded eight relevant retrospective studies. Of studies that included patients with one or more positive blood cultures for S. lugdunensis, the proportion of IE ranged from 6.3% to 27.0%. CONCLUSION: The proportion of definite or possible IE among patients with SLB is similar to the proportion of IE among patients with S. aureus bacteremia. The proportions of IE among patients with SLB at other institutions fall within the 95% CI yielded by bootstrapping. Our findings suggest that growth of S. lugdunensis in two separate blood cultures should prompt consideration of workup for IE.

HIV and its relationship to insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities.

Antiretroviral therapy has revolutionized the care of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by reducing morbidity and mortality from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related conditions. Despite longer life expectancy, however, HIV-infected individuals continue to have a higher risk of death compared with the general population. This has been attributed to the increasing incidence of noncommunicable diseases, in particular, atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. This is driven, in part, by the emergence of metabolic disorders, particularly dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and lipodystrophy, in those on antiretroviral therapy. The pathogenesis of these metabolic derangements is complex and multifactorial, and could be a consequence of an interplay between traditional age-related risk factors, HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy effects, and the inflammatory state and immune activation in this population. Understanding the contributions of each of these factors could not just impact the current management of these individuals and help mitigate the risk for premature cardiovascular disease, but also shape the future direction of research in HIV.

Bull's eye maculopathy in an HIV-positive patient receiving ritonavir.

Retinal toxicity involving the macula as a complication of the antiretroviral protease inhibitor ritonavir has been described in a few cases. We report retinal pigment epitheliopathy involving the macula with a bull's eye pattern in a 36-year-old man with well-controlled HIV receiving ritonavir with gradually progressive bilateral vision loss.

Fulminant necrotising fasciitis by community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is a rare cause of necrotising fasciitis (NF), and is usually not fulminant as in group A Streptococcus (GAS), the archetypal aetiology. We report an unusually fulminant case of NF by CA-MRSA in an immunocompetent patient. A 52-year-old man presented to the emergency department with 1 week of progressive left thigh pain and swelling. The patient had ecchymoses, bullae and hypoesthesia of the involved skin, and CT scan revealed extensive fascial oedema. He was immediately started on broad spectrum antibiotics. Within 12 h of presentation, he underwent surgical debridement. Despite aggressive supportive care, the patient died less than 24 h after presentation. MRSA, with an antibiogram suggestive of a community-acquired strain, was recovered from intraoperative specimens and admission blood cultures. This case underscores that CA-MRSA, while rarely reported, can cause a fulminant presentation of NF similar to GAS in immunocompetent patients.

Neurosarcoidosis-associated central diabetes insipidus masked by adrenal insufficiency.

Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) is an infrequent complication of neurosarcoidosis (NS). Its presentation may be masked by adrenal insufficiency (AI) and uncovered by subsequent steroid replacement. A 45-year-old woman with a history of NS presented 2 weeks after abrupt cessation of prednisone with nausea, vomiting, decreased oral intake and confusion. She was diagnosed with secondary AI and intravenous hydrocortisone was promptly begun. Over the next few days, however, the patient developed severe thirst and polyuria exceeding 6 L of urine per day, accompanied by hypernatraemia and hypo-osmolar urine. She was presumed to have CDI due to NS, and intranasal desmopressin was administered. This eventually normalised her urine output and serum sodium. The patient was discharged improved on intranasal desmopressin and oral prednisone. AI may mask the manifestation of CDI because low serum cortisol impairs renal-free water clearance. Steroid replacement reverses this process and unmasks an underlying CDI.

Typhoid Fever Complicated by Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis and Rhabdomyolysis.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and rhabdomyolysis are rare complications of typhoid fever from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. Herein, we describe the clinical features in a 21-year-old female from India who presented to the intensive care unit with fever, severe pancytopenia, and rhabdomyolysis.

Sudden death in a patient with bone marrow transplant by a fungus among us.

Mucormycosis is rare, presenting as breakthrough infection among haematological and transplant patients on prophylaxis with voriconazole. We report an unusual presentation of this infection, that which is pneumonia progressing to cardiac arrest. A 68-year-old woman with refractory acute myelogenous leukaemia on voriconazole prophylaxis was initially admitted for neutropenic fever and pneumonia. She was discharged improved on antibiotics and voriconazole for presumed aspergillosis. She returned after 1 month with the same presentation. She eventually improved on antibiotics and voriconazole, and eventually received bone marrow transplantation. Three days later, she developed pleuritic chest pain, dyspnoea, and hypoxia requiring intubation. An hour after intubation, the patient arrested and expired. Autopsy revealed Rhizopus pneumonitis with pulmonary infarction, and emboli to her cerebellum, heart, thyroid and kidney. Mucormycosis is an emerging, fatal infection that should be suspected in haematological and transplant patients who deteriorate on voriconazole.

MET gene copy number predicts worse overall survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: MET is a receptor present in the membrane of NSCLC cells and is known to promote cell proliferation, survival and migration. MET gene copy number is a common genetic alteration and inhibition o MET emerges as a promising targeted therapy in NSCLC. Here we aim to combine in a meta-analysis, data on the effect of high MET gene copy number on the overall survival of patients with resected NSCLC. METHODS: Two independent investigators applied parallel search strategies with the terms "MET AND lung cancer", "MET AND NSCLC", "MET gene copy number AND prognosis" in PubMed through January 2014. We selected the studies that investigated the association of MET gene copy number with survival, in patients who received surgery. RESULTS: Among 1096 titles that were identified in the initial search, we retrieved 9 studies on retrospective cohorts with adequate retrievable data regarding the prognostic impact of MET gene copy number on the survival of patients with NSCLC. Out of those, 6 used FISH and the remaining 3 used RT PCR to assess the MET gene copy number in the primary tumor. We calculated the I2 statistic to assess heterogeneity (I2 = 72%). MET gene copy number predicted worse overall survival when all studies were combined in a random effects model (HR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.22-2.60). When only the studies that had at least 50% of adenocarcinoma patients in their populations were included, the effect was significant (five studies, HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.23-1.94). This was not true when we included only the studies with no more than 50% of the patients having adenocarcinoma histology (four studies HR 2.18, 95% CI 0.97-4.90). CONCLUSIONS: Higher MET gene copy number in the primary tumor at the time of diagnosis predicts worse outcome in patients with NSCLC. This prognostic impact may be adenocarcinoma histology specific.