Behçet's disease diagnosed after acute HIV infection: viral replication activating underlying autoimmunity?

Behçet's disease is an autoimmune systemic vasculitis that can occur after exposure to infectious agents. Behçet's disease also has been associated with HIV infection, including de novo development of this condition during chronic HIV infection and resolution of Behçet's disease symptoms following initiation of antiretroviral therapy. We describe a patient who presented with systemic vasculitis with skin and mucous membrane ulcerations in the setting of acute HIV infection, who was eventually diagnosed with Behçet's disease, demonstrating a possible link between acute HIV infection, immune activation and development of autoimmunity.

Histoplasma capsulatum endocarditis: multicenter case series with review of current diagnostic techniques and treatment.

Infective endocarditis is an uncommon manifestation of infection with Histoplasma capsulatum. The diagnosis is frequently missed, and outcomes historically have been poor. We present 14 cases of Histoplasma endocarditis seen in the last decade at medical centers throughout the United States. All patients were men, and 10 of the 14 had an infected prosthetic aortic valve. One patient had an infected left atrial myxoma. Symptoms were present a median of 7 weeks before the diagnosis was established. Blood cultures yielded H. capsulatum in only 6 (43%) patients. Histoplasma antigen was present in urine and/or serum in all but 3 of the patients and provided the first clue to the diagnosis of histoplasmosis for several patients. Antibody testing was positive for H. capsulatum in 6 of 8 patients in whom the test was performed. Eleven patients underwent surgery for valve replacement or myxoma removal. Large, friable vegetations were noted at surgery in most patients, confirming the preoperative transesophageal echocardiography findings. Histopathologic examination of valve tissue and the myxoma revealed granulomatous inflammation and large numbers of organisms in most specimens. Four of the excised valves and the atrial myxoma showed a mixture of both yeast and hyphal forms on histopathology. A lipid formulation of amphotericin B, administered for a median of 29 days, was the initial therapy in 11 of the 14 patients. This was followed by oral itraconazole therapy, in all but 2 patients. The length of itraconazole suppressive therapy ranged from 11 months to lifelong administration. Three patients (21%) died within 3 months of the date of diagnosis. All 3 deaths were in patients who had received either no or minimal (1 day and 1 week) amphotericin B.

Avaliaçäo de um sistema especialista na detecçäo de infecçöes hospitalares / Specialist system evaluation in detection of hospitalar infections

Um sistema especialista foi avaliado na sua capacidade em detectar infeccções em pacientes pediátricos hospitalizados. O sistema teve uma sensitividade de 100 por cento na detecção de bacteremias e 57 por cento na detecção de infecções cirúrgicas, quando comparado a um "gold-standard".