Recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection: An official clinical practice guideline of the Spanish Society of Chemotherapy (SEQ), Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) and the working group of Postoperative Infection of the Spanish Society of Anesthesia and Reanimation (SEDAR).

This document gathers the opinion of a multidisciplinary forum of experts on different aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in Spain. It has been structured around a series of questions that the attendees considered relevant and in which a consensus opinion was reached. The main messages were as follows: CDI should be suspected in patients older than 2 years of age in the presence of diarrhea, paralytic ileus and unexplained leukocytosis, even in the absence of classical risk factors. With a few exceptions, a single stool sample is sufficient for diagnosis, which can be sent to the laboratory with or without transportation media for enteropathogenic bacteria. In the absence of diarrhoea, rectal swabs may be valid. The microbiology laboratory should include C. difficile among the pathogens routinely searched in patients with diarrhoea. Laboratory tests in different order and sequence schemes include GDH detection, presence of toxins, molecular tests and toxigenic culture. Immediate determination of sensitivity to drugs such as vancomycin, metronidazole or fidaxomycin is not required. The evolution of toxin persistence is not a suitable test for follow up. Laboratory diagnosis of CDI should be rapid and results reported and interpreted to clinicians immediately. In addition to the basic support of all diarrheic episodes, CDI treatment requires the suppression of antiperistaltic agents, proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics, where possible. Oral vancomycin and fidaxomycin are the antibacterials of choice in treatment, intravenous metronidazole being restricted for patients in whom the presence of the above drugs in the intestinal lumen cannot be assured. Fecal material transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients with multiple recurrences but uncertainties persist regarding its standardization and safety. Bezlotoxumab is a monoclonal antibody to C. difficile toxin B that should be administered to patients at high risk of recurrence. Surgery is becoming less and less necessary and prevention with vaccines is under research. Probiotics have so far not been shown to be therapeutically or preventively effective. The therapeutic strategy should be based, rather than on the number of episodes, on the severity of the episodes and on their potential to recur. Some data point to the efficacy of oral vancomycin prophylaxis in patients who reccur CDI when systemic antibiotics are required again.

Antimicrobial treatment failures in patients with community-acquired pneumonia: causes and prognostic implications.

The aim of the study was to determine the causes and prognostic implications of antimicrobial treatment failures in patients with nonresponding and progressive life-threatening, community-acquired pneumonia. Forty-nine patients hospitalized with a presumptive diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia during a 16-mo period, failure to respond to antimicrobial treatment, and documented repeated microbial investigation >/= 72 h after initiation of in-hospital antimicrobial treatment were recorded. A definite etiology of treatment failure could be established in 32 of 49 (65%) patients, and nine additional patients (18%) had a probable etiology. Treatment failures were mainly infectious in origin and included primary, persistent, and nosocomial infections (n = 10 [19%], 13 [24%], and 11 [20%] of causes, respectively). Definite but not probable persistent infections were mostly due to microbial resistance to the administered initial empiric antimicrobial treatment. Nosocomial infections were particularly frequent in patients with progressive pneumonia. Definite persistent infections and nosocomial infections had the highest associated mortality rates (75 and 88%, respectively). Nosocomial pneumonia was the only cause of treatment failure independently associated with death in multivariate analysis (RR, 16.7; 95% CI, 1.4 to 194.9; p = 0.03). We conclude that the detection of microbial resistance and the diagnosis of nosocomial pneumonia are the two major challenges in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia who do not respond to initial antimicrobial treatment. In order to establish these potentially life-threatening etiologies, a regular microbial reinvestigation seems mandatory for all patients presenting with antimicrobial treatment failures.

[Antibiotic treatment of acute gastroenteritis]. / Tratamiento antibiótico de la gastroenteritis aguda.

The empiric antibiotic therapy for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is indicated only in patients with underlying diseases or risk for bacteremia. The clinical characteristics, clinical efficiency of antibiotic therapy with pivmecillinam (52 patients) or ciprofloxacin (75 patients) and its effects on the fecal carrier state of Salmonella spp. were studied in 127 adult patients with AGE and antibiotic therapy indication. The initial stool culture was positive in 90 patients (71%). The microorganism recovered most frequently was Salmonella spp., with a bacteremia rate in these patients of 5%. The susceptibility of Salmonella spp. to ciprofloxacin and mecillinam was 100% and 90%, respectively. Therapy with ciprofloxacin or pivmecillinam showed a similar efficiency. Fecal excretion lasted no longer than five weeks and no chronic carriers were observed.

[Prospective double-blind randomized study of the efficacy and tolerance of topical ciprofloxacin vs topical gentamicin in the treatment of simple chronic otitis media and diffuse external otitis]. / Estudio prospectivo doble-ciego randomizado de la eficacia y tolerancia de ciprofloxacino tópico versus gentamicina tópica en el tratamiento de la otitis media crónica supurada simple y de la otitis externa difusa.

A prospective, randomized double-blind study was made of topical ciprofloxacillin (0.5%) compared with topical gentamicin (0.3%) in the treatment of simple chronic otitis media (COM) and diffuse external otitis (DEO). The study included 47 patients with COM and 54 patients with DEO. Success rates in the COM subgroup were 95% for ciprofloxacillin and 96% for gentamicin (p = 0.082), and in the DEO subgroup, 87% for ciprofloxacillin and 79% for gentamicin (p = 0.19). Both drugs were well tolerated and there was no significant change in audiometric measurements with either medication in either group. Therefore, ciprofloxacillin is at least as effective as gentamicin in such ear infections and has no potential ototoxic effect.

Necrotizing external otitis treated with ciprofloxacin. A case report.

Necrotizing (malignant) external otitis is a severe infection caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa which occurs mainly in elderly diabetics or in immuno-depressed patients (Chandler, 1968). The management of this condition requires the association between an aminoglycoside antibiotic and an antipseudomonal beta-lactamic, given parenterally during a 4 to 6 week period. Sometimes it is necessary to continue the therapy for months until there is no evidence of residual disease (Strauss et al., 1982). Ciprofloxacin is a quinolone with antipseudomonal activity which can be taken orally, and it is a useful alternative to the current treatment. The authors report a case of necrotizing external otitis which was successfully treated with ciprofloxacin.