Nationwide surveillance of bacterial respiratory pathogens conducted by the surveillance committee of Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for clinical microbiology in 2014: General view of the pathogens' antibacterial susceptibility.

The nationwide surveillance on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens from the patients in Japan was conducted by Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2014. The isolates were collected from clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory tract infections during the period between January 2014 and April 2015 by three societies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted at the central reference laboratory according to the method recommended by Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute. Susceptibility testing was evaluated in 1534 strains (335 Staphylococcus aureus, 264 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 29 Streptococcus pyogenes, 281 Haemophilus influenzae, 164 Moraxella catarrhalis, 207 Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 254 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ratio of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was 43.6%, and those of penicillin-susceptible S. pneumoniae was 100%. Among H. influenzae, 8.2% of them were found to be ß-lactamase-producing ampicillin-resistant strains, and 49.1% to be ß-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin-resistant strains. Extended spectrum ß-lactamase-producing K. pneumoniae and multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa with metallo ß-lactamase were 9.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

Long-acting muscarinic antagonist + long-acting beta agonist versus long-acting beta agonist + inhaled corticosteroid for COPD: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Some trials have been conducted to compare long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) + long-acting beta agonist (LABA) versus LABA + inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but no meta-analysis were reported. Two investigators independently searched for eligible articles using the PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane databases. Articles in authors' reference files were also regarded as candidates. The eligibility criteria for the current meta-analysis were original trials written in English comparing the impact of LAMA + LABA and LABA + ICS for COPD patients. A pooled value for the continuous value was calculated using the genetic inverse variance method for mean difference. Incidence of events was evaluated using the odds ratio (OR). Minimal clinically important difference were 50 mL for forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 ), four points for St George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) and one point for transition dyspnoea index (TDI). We included seven randomized controlled trials and one cross-over trial with follow-up period of 6-26 weeks. Compared with LABA + ICS, LAMA + LABA led to significantly greater improvements of trough FEV1 by 71 (95% CI: 48-95) mL, TDI by 0.38 points (95% CI: 0.17-0.58), less exacerbations with an OR of 0.77 (95% CI: 0.62-0.96) and less pneumonia with an OR of 0.28 (95% CI: 0.12-0.68). Frequencies of any adverse event, serious adverse event, adverse event leading to discontinuation, all-cause death and change of total score of SGRQ were not different in both arms. LAMA + LABA might be a better option for treating COPD than LABA + ICS.

Nationwide surveillance of bacterial respiratory pathogens conducted by the surveillance committee of Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2010: General view of the pathogens' antibacterial susceptibility.

The nationwide surveillance on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens from patients in Japan, was conducted by Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases and Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2010. The isolates were collected from clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory tract infections during the period from January and April 2010 by three societies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted at the central reference laboratory according to the method recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institutes using maximum 45 antibacterial agents. Susceptibility testing was evaluable with 954 strains (206 Staphylococcus aureus, 189 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 4 Streptococcus pyogenes, 182 Haemophilus influenzae, 74 Moraxella catarrhalis, 139 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 160 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ratio of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was as high as 50.5%, and those of penicillin-intermediate and -resistant S. pneumoniae were 1.1% and 0.0%, respectively. Among H. influenzae, 17.6% of them were found to be ß-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin (ABPC)-intermediately resistant, 33.5% to be ß-lactamase-non-producing ABPC-resistant and 11.0% to be ß-lactamase-producing ABPC-resistant strains. Extended spectrum ß-lactamase-producing K. pneumoniae and multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa with metallo ß-lactamase were 2.9% and 0.6%, respectively. Continuous national surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility of respiratory pathogens is crucial in order to monitor changing patterns of susceptibility and to be able to update treatment recommendations on a regular basis.