Impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic among health care workers in a secondary teaching hospital in Spain.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a huge challenge to healthcare systems and their personnel worldwide. The study of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers (HCW), through prevalence studies, will let us know viral expansion, individuals at most risk and the most exposed areas in healthcare organizations. The aim of this study is to gauge the impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in our hospital workforce and identify groups and areas at increased risk. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This is a cross-sectional and incidence study carried out on healthcare workers based on molecular and serological diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the 3013 HCW invited to participate, 2439 (80.9%) were recruited, including 674 (22.4%) who had previously consulted at the Occupational Health Service (OHS) for confirmed exposure and/or presenting symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. A total of 411 (16.9%) and 264 (10.8%) healthcare workers were SARS-CoV-2 IgG and rRT-PCR positive, respectively. The cumulative prevalence considering all studies (IgG positive HCW and/or rRT-PCR positive detection) was 485 (19.9%). SARS-CoV-2 IgG-positive patients in whom the virus was not detected were 221 (9.1%); up to 151 of them (68.3%) did not report any compatible symptoms nor consult at the OHS for this reason. Men became more infected than women (25% vs 18.5%, p = 0.0009), including when data were also classified by age. COVID-19 cumulative prevalence among the HCW assigned to medical departments was higher (25.2%) than others, as well as among medical staff (25.4%) compared with other professional categories (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HCW of our centre has been 19.9%. Doctors and medical services personnel have had the highest prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but many of them have not presented compatible symptoms. This emphasizes the performance of continuous surveillance methods of the most exposed health personnel and not only based on the appearance of symptoms.

COVID-19 en pacientes españoles e inmigrantes en un área sanitaria de Madrid / COVID-19 in Spanish and immigrant patients in a sanitary district of Madrid

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Epidemiología y etiología de la candidiasis vaginal en mujeres españolas e inmigrantes en Fuenlabrada (Madrid) / Epidemiology and etiology of vulvovaginal candidiasis in Spanish and immigrants' women in Fuenlabrada (Madrid)

OBJETIVOS: La candidiasis vulvovaginal es una infección oportunista provocada por levaduras del género Candida. Los principales factores predisponentes son la gestación, los tratamientos con antibióticos y la diabetes mellitus. Candida albicans es la especie más frecuente, pero en países de África y Asia la frecuencia de Candida no C. albicans es más elevada. Hemos estudiado la distribución de las diferentes especies de Candida en mujeres españolas e inmigrantes. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Estudio retrospectivo de los exudados vaginales recibidos en nuestro laboratorio durante los años 2015 a 2018. RESULTADOS: Se recibieron 2.283 estudios. Se detectó Candida spp. en el 25,7% en españolas y el 28,5% en extranjeras (la diferencia no es significativa). La tasa en inmigrantes es mayor que otras descritas en España. El 82,4% de los aislamientos correspondió a C. albicans. CONCLUSIONES: No hay diferencias significativas entre las tasas de los aislamientos de españolas versus extranjeras. Se observa una demanda proporcionalmente mayor de estudios en las mujeres inmigrantes

OBJECTIVES: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common vaginal infection. Risk factors include diabetes, antibiotic use and pregnancy. Candida albicans is the most common species identified but non-C. albicans species appear to be more commonly associated with VVC in some Asian and African countries. We had studied the distribution of Candida species in Spanish and immigrants' women residents in Spain. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective study of vaginal yeast cultures between 2015 and 2018. RESULTS: A total of 2,283 vaginal yeast cultures were collected. Candida spp. was detected in 25.7% from Spanish women and in 28.5% from immigrants (no significant differences). Immigrants have higher rates of vaginal candidiasis compared other studies in Spain. C. albicans was the most common species isolated (82.4%). CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences in vaginal candidiasis rate between Spanish and immigrants' women. Immigrants consulted proportionally more compared with the Spanish women

Blood stream infections associated with central and peripheral venous catheters.

BACKGROUND: The purposes of this study were to determine the incidence of central and peripheral venous catheter-related bacteraemias, the relationship between the suspected and final confirmed bacteraemia origins, and the differences in microbiological, epidemiological, clinical, and analytical characteristics between the groups, including evolution to death. METHODS: This was a 7-year descriptive retrospective populational study of all bloodstream infections, comparing central (CB) and peripheral (PB) venous catheter-related bacteraemias in patients older than 15 years. RESULTS: In all, 285 catheter-related bacteraemia patients, 220 with CBs (77.19%) and 65 with PBs (22.81%), were analysed among 1866 cases with bloodstream infections. The cumulative incidence per 1000 patients-day of hospital stay was 0.36 for CB and 0.106 for PB. In terms of the suspected origin, there was less accuracy in diagnosing catheter-related bloodstream infections (68. 2%) than those of other origins (78. 4%), p <  0.001. The accuracy was greater for PB (75%) than for CB (66. 2%), Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most frequent microorganisms in both groups but occurred 1.57 times more frequently in CB (64.1%/40.6%) (p = 0.004), while Staphylococcus aureus (23. 4%/9.5%) (p = 0.02) and Enterobacteriae species (15.6%/6. 3%) (p = 0.003) were 2.5 times more frequent in PB. The CB patients stayed at the hospital for an average of 7.44 days longer than did the PB patients; more CB patients had active neoplasia (70. 4%/32.8%), more had surgery in the previous week (29. 2%/8. 3%), and fewer received adequate empirical treatment (53.9%/ 62.5%). Catheter was not removed in 8. 2% of CB and 3.7% of PB. On the other hand, the CB and PB patients had similar Pitt scores at blood extraction (median 0.89 versus 0.84 points, respectively; p = 0.8) and similar survival rates at hospital discharge (91.1% versus 90. 2%; p = 0.81). CONCLUSIONS: Central catheters were more frequent sources of bacteraemias than were peripheral catheters. There were important differences in the microbiological aetiology as well. PB patients received correct empirical antibiotic treatment more frequently and had a higher initial rate of correct determination of the suspected source of bacteraemia. Differences in the microbiological aetiology and empirical antibiotic treatment received, and probably catheter removal and time to catheter removal could explain why CB and PB patients had similar survival rates .

Diagnostic model of visceral leishmaniasis based on bone marrow findings. Study of patients with clinical suspicion in which the parasite is not observed.

BACKGROUND: Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a serious protozoal disease endemic in diverse areas, including the southern area of Madrid (Spain), where an outbreak was detected in 2009. The objective of this work is to analyze bone marrow alterations in VL patients and elaborate a diagnostic model with the aim to improve the early detection of this disease. The usual diagnostic methods, as the observation of the parasite on a bone marrow aspirate, have frequent false negatives, and the high sensitivity methods, as PCR and ELISA, are delayed or are not always available. METHODS: This observational study evaluated bone marrow parameters of adult patients with clinical suspicion of VL, in which a bone marrow aspiration was performed but Leishmania was not directly observed, during the period 2009-2014. The patients finally diagnosed of VL by other methods (VL group, n=41), and the patients in which the VL was not diagnosed (non-VL group, n=20) were compared. A multivariant model was elaborated and externally validated. RESULTS: The final multivariant model includes percentage of myeloid series, percentage of plasma cells and quantification of megakaryocytes in the bone marrow, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.87 (0.78-0.96). The model performed well in the external validation. CONCLUSION: In cases of VL suspicion and when the parasite is not observed in the bone marrow aspiration, the proposed model could be useful in discriminating between patients with and without VL, allowing to take a therapeutic decision while awaiting the definitive diagnosis.

Sensibilidad en enterobacterias uropatógenas productoras de BLEE versus no productoras, en pacientes pareados por edad, sexo y situación de ingreso hospitalario / Antimicrobial susceptibility in urinary tract infections caused by ESBL- and non-ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in hospitalized/outpatient-, sex-, age-matched patients

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Comparación de 2 pautas para detectar Streptococcus agalactiae usando medio Granada / Comparison of two pattern for Streptococcus agalactiae screening using Granada media

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Relevancia del aislamiento de Streptococcus agalactiae en urocultivos en la detección de gestantes colonizadas / The significance of identification of Streptococcus agalactiae in urine cultures for detection of Group B streptococcal colonization in pregnant women

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Diagnosis of bacteraemia and growth times.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to predict the diagnosis of bacteraemia as a function of the time at which the automated BacT/Alert system continuously detects microorganism growth. METHODS: A retrospective study of a database of 1334 patients with a positive blood culture between January 2011 and June 2013 was conducted. Together with the final blood culture results and the patient's history, growth was then analysed to assess whether it represented true bacteraemia or bacterial contamination. The earliest detection times of bacterial growth in each batch of blood cultures were analysed in a blinded fashion after classification. RESULTS: In total, 590 batches of blood cultures corresponded to true bacteraemia and 744 to bacterial contamination. In the bacteraemia group, the median growth time was 12.72 h (interquartile range (IQR) 10.08-17.58 h). In the contaminated blood culture group, the median growth time was 20.6h (IQR 17.04-32.16 h) (p<0.001). Analysis of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve (area under the curve 0.80, 95% confidence interval 0.771-0.826) showed that 90% of the contaminants grew after 14.7h (sensitivity 90.5%, specificity 63.4%, positive predictive value (PPV) 65.9%, negative predictive value (NPV) 90.7%). Forty-five percent of the bacteraemia organisms grew in under 12h (sensitivity 45.3%, specificity 95%, PPV 87.8%, NPV 68.7%). Microorganisms such as Candida sp and Bacteroides sp presented median growth times significantly longer than those of the other microorganisms. The administration of antibiotics in the week prior to bacteraemia was found to delay the growth time of microorganisms (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Knowing the time to detection of microorganism growth can help to distinguish between true bacteraemia and bacterial contamination, thus allowing more timely clinical decisions to be made, before definitive microorganism identification.