Dalbavancin as suppressive antibiotic therapy in patients with prosthetic infections: efficacy and safety.

Suppressive antibiotic therapy (SAT) is a strategy to alleviate symptoms and/or to reduce the progression of an infection when other treatment options cannot be used. Dalbavancin, due to its prolonged half-life, enables (bi) weekly dosing. Here, we report our multicenter real-life clinical experience with dalbavancin used as SAT in patients with prosthetic joint or vascular infections. Medical records of all adult patients with documented vascular or orthopedic chronic prosthetic infections, who received dalbavancin as SAT between 2016 and 2018 from four Spanish hospitals were reviewed for inclusion. Descriptive analysis of demographic characteristics, Charlson Comorbidity index, Barthel index, isolated pathogens and indication, concomitant antibiotic use, adverse events, and clinical outcome of SAT were performed. Eight patients were eligible for inclusion, where six patients had prosthetic vascular infections (aortic valve) and two patients had knee prosthetic joint infections. The most common pathogens were methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium. All patients had a history of prior antibiotic treatment for the prosthetic infection [median duration of antibiotic days 125 days (IQR, 28-203 days)]. The median number of dalbavancin doses was 29 (IQR, 9-61) and concomitant antibiotic use (n = 5, 62.5%). Clinical success was reported in 75% (n = 6) of patients. Adverse events were reported in two patients (mild renal and hepatic impairment). The median estimated cost savings due to the avoided hospital days was €60185 (IQR, 19,916-94984) per patient. Despite the limitations of our study, this preliminary data provides valuable insight to support further evaluation of dalbavancin for SAT in patients with prosthetic infections in the outpatient setting when alternative treatments are not feasible.

Nodular lymphangitis due to nocardiosis.

Nodular lymphangitis is an infectious disease characterised by the development of inflammatory skin nodules that follow the direction of lymphatic drainage. We present a woman in her 70s with nodular lymphangitis that developed after mild trauma with a cactus. Surgical intervention was performed on a finger abscess with isolation of Nocardia brasiliensis in the microbiological samples. Initial antibiotherapy was modified, treating with cotrimoxazole, firstly intravenous and finally oral, therapy during 3 months with a complete resolution of the infection.

High-Risk Obesity Phenotypes: Target for Multimorbidity Prevention at the ROFEMI Study.

Background: Describe the profile of patients with obesity in internal medicine to determine the role of adiposity and related inflammation on the metabolic risk profile and, identify various "high-risk obesity" phenotypes by means of a cluster analysis. This study aimed to identify different profiles of patients with high-risk obesity based on a cluster analysis. Methods: Cross-sectional, multicenter project that included outpatients attended to in internal medicine. A total of 536 patients were studied. The mean age was 62 years, 51% were women. Patients were recruited from internal medicine departments over two weeks in November and December 2021 and classified into four risk groups according to body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). High-risk obesity was defined as BMI > 35 Kg/m2 or BMI 30−34.9 Kg/m2 and a high WC (>102 cm for men and >88 cm for women). Hierarchical and partitioning clustering approaches were performed to identify profiles. Results: A total of 462 (86%) subjects were classified into the high-risk obesity group. After excluding 19 patients missing critical data, two profiles emerged: cluster 1 (n = 396) and cluster 2 (n = 47). Compared to cluster 1, cluster 2 had a worse profile, characterized by older age (77 ± 16 vs. 61 ± 21 years, p < 0.01), a Charlson Comorbidity Index > 3 (53% vs. 5%, p < 0.001), depression (36% vs. 19%, p = 0.008), severe disability (64% vs. 3%, p < 0.001), and a sarcopenia score ≥ 4 (79% vs. 16%, p < 0.01). In addition, cluster 2 had greater inflammation than cluster 1 (hsCRP: 5.8 ± 4.1 vs. 2.1 ± 4.5 mg/dL, p = 0.008). Conclusions: Two profiles of subjects with high-risk obesity were identified. Based on that, older subjects with obesity require measures that target sarcopenia, disability, psychological health, and significant comorbidities to prevent further health deterioration. Longitudinal studies should be performed to identify potential risk factors of subjects who progress from cluster 1 to cluster 2.