scholarly journals Mycoplasma pneumoniae may cause dyspnoea and hospitalisations in young healthy adults

Author(s):  
Riku Metsälä ◽  
Solja Ala-Korpi ◽  
Juha Rannikko ◽  
Merja Helminen ◽  
Marjo Renko

AbstractPolymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostics for Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) from the respiratory tract has become widely available, but the interpretation of the results remains unclear. M. pneumoniae has been suggested to cause mainly mild and self-limiting infections or asymptomatic carriage. However, systematic analyses of the association between PCR results and clinical findings are scarce. This study aimed to clarify the clinical features of PCR-positive M. pneumoniae infections in a hospital setting. We reviewed 103 PCR-positive patients cared for in a university hospital during a 3-year period. Data on age, sex, health condition, acute symptoms, other pathogens found, laboratory and X-ray results and treatments were collected. Over 85% of the patients had a triad of typical symptoms: fever, cough and shortness of breath. Symptoms in the upper respiratory tract were rare. In 91% of the cases, M. pneumoniae was the only pathogen found. The highest incidence was found in the age group of 30–40 years, and 68% of the patients did not have any underlying diseases. Most patients were initially empirically treated with beta-lactam antibiotics and needed 2–4 changes in their treatment. Only 6% were discharged without an antibiotic effective against M. pneumoniae. This study shows that M. pneumoniae often led to hospitalisation and that patients needed appropriate antimicrobial treatment to recover. Mixed infections were rare, and situations that could be interpreted as carriage did not occur.

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 971-975
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gerber

Despite the use of penicillin for more than 40 years in treating GABHS infections, there has been no significant change in the in vitro susceptibility of GABHS to penicillin. Reported failures to eradicate GABHS from the upper respiratory tracts of patients with pharyngitis and the apparent resurgence of serious Group A streptococcal infections and their sequelae probably are not related to the emergence of penicillin resistance. Although erythromycin resistance in GABHS had been a major problem in Japan and continues to be a major problem in Finland, it has not been a problem in this country. The susceptibility of GABHS to the newer macrolide antibiotics appears to be similar to that of erythromycin. Comprehensive, community-wide programs to continuously monitor for erythromycin resistance in GABHS would be difficult to justify. However, because little is known about how erythromycin resistance in GABHS is acquired or spread, it would be reasonable to periodically monitor isolates of GABHS for erythromycin resistance. A substantial proportion of GABHS are currently resistant to tetracyclines and these agents are inappropriate for treating GABHS infections. Although little recent information is available about the susceptibility of GABHS to sulfonamides, these agents have been shown to be ineffective in eradicating GABHS from the upper respiratory tract regardless of the in vitro sensitivities. GABHS have not been shown to be resistant to any of the commonly used oral cephalosporins; however, there is a great deal of variability among these agents in their activity against GABHS. Clindamycin resistance in GABHS has remained unusual. This agent is an alternative for treating GABHS infections due to macrolide-resistant strains in patients who cannot be treated with beta-lactam antibiotics. There is no reason, based on the in vitro susceptibilities of GABHS, to change the current recommendations for treating GABHS infections with penicillin and for using erythromycin for patients who are allergic to penicillin.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 101 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 163-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott F. Dowell ◽  
S. Michael Marcy ◽  
William R. Phillips ◽  
Michael A. Gerber ◽  
Benjamin Schwartz

This article introduces a set of principles to define judicious antimicrobial use for five conditions that account for the majority of outpatient antimicrobial use in the United States. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that in recent years, approximately three fourths of all outpatient antibiotics have been prescribed for otitis media, sinusitis, bronchitis, pharyngitis, or nonspecific upper respiratory tract infection.1Antimicrobial drug use rates are highest for children1; therefore, the pediatric age group represents the focus for the present guidelines. The evidence-based principles presented here are focused on situations in which antimicrobial therapy could be curtailed without compromising patient care. They are not formulated as comprehensive management strategies. For most upper respiratory infections that require antimicrobial treatment, there are several appropriate oral agents from which to choose. Although the general principles of selecting narrow-spectrum agents with the fewest side effects and lowest cost are important, the principles that follow include few specific antibiotic selection recommendations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
GRAŻYNA SZYMAŃSKA ◽  
MAGDALENA SZEMRAJ ◽  
ELIGIA M. SZEWCZYK

The activity of beta-lactam antibiotics (oxacillin, cloxacillin, cephalotin), vancomycin, gentamicin and rifampicin applied in vitro individually and in combination against 37 nosocomial methicillin-resistant strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) was assessed to demonstrate the heterogeneity of this group of bacteria and estimate the chance of the efficacy of such therapy. The strains belonged to four species: Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus cohnii, Staphylococcus hominis. They originated from a hospital environment and from the skin of medical staff of the intensive care unit of a paediatric ward at a university hospital. All strains were methicillin-resistant, according to CLSI standards, but individual strains differed in MIC(ox) values. Susceptibility to other tested antibiotics was also characteristic for the species. The increased susceptibility to antibiotics in combinations, tested by calculating the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index, concerned 26 out of 37 investigated strains and it was a feature of a particular species. Combinations of vancomycin and cephalotin against S. epidermidis and oxacillin with vancomycin were significant, as well as cephalotin and rifampicin in growth inhibition of multiresistant S. haemolyticus strains.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 174-180
Author(s):  
Christiane Querbach ◽  
Tilo Biedermann ◽  
Dirk H. Busch ◽  
Rüdiger Eisenhart-Rothe ◽  
Susanne Feihl ◽  
...  

Summary Background Beta-lactam antibiotics (BLA) are the treatment of choice for a large number of bacterial infections. Putative BLA allergies are often reported by patients, but rarely confirmed. Many patients do not receive BLA due to suspected allergy. There is no systematic approach to risk stratification in the case of a history of suspected BLA allergy. Methods Using the available stratification programs and taking current guidelines into account, an algorithm for risk stratification, including recommendations on the use of antibiotics in cases of compellingly indicated BLA despite suspected BLA allergy, was formulated by the authors for their maximum care university hospital. Results The hospital is in great need of recommendations on how to deal with BLA allergies. Patient-reported information in the history forms the basis for classifying the reactions into four risk categories: (1) BLA allergy excluded, (2) benign delayed reaction, (3) immediate reaction, and (4) severe cutaneous and extracutaneous drug reaction. Recommendations strictly depend on this classification and range from use of full-dose BLA or use of BLA under certain conditions (e.g., two-stage dose escalation, non-cross-reactive BLA only) to prohibiting all BLA and the use of alternative non-BLA. In case of suspected immediate or delayed allergic reactions, there is an additional recommendation regarding subsequent allergy testing during a symptom-free interval. Conclusion Triage of patients with suspected BLA is urgently required. While allergy testing, including provocation testing, represents the most reliable solution, this is not feasible in all patients due to the high prevalence of BLA allergies. The risk stratification algorithm developed for the authors’ hospital represents a tool suitable to making a contribution to rational antibiotic therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-396
Author(s):  
Bessimbaye Nadlaou ◽  
Djimadoum Mbanga ◽  
Issakou Bakarnga-Via ◽  
Claude Oualé ◽  
Nicolas Barro ◽  
...  

The aim is to assess the level of contamination of wound bacteria in operated patients in the surgical departments of the National Reference University Hospital (CHURN) of N’Djamena. From August 1, 2018 to August 1, 2019, an observational culture study on wound pus was carried out in patients operated on from the surgical services of the N’Djamena CHURN according to standard methods of medical microbiology. Of the 1092 patients operated on, 565 patients were released within a normal period of hospitalization and 527 in contact with the pathogens were maintained. Significant differences were observed between the proportions of positive (86%) and sterile (14%) cultures; female (30.36%) and male (69.63%) operated subjects with probabilities of 0.02 and 0.001 respectively. Escherichia coli were the most common germs (32.7%), followed by Staphylococcus spp (20.9%). The bacteria isolated were resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics at an average rate of 40%, only imipenem, a last-resort antibiotic, was very sensitive (99.5%). In view of these results, we recommend that prescribers avoid prescribing antibiotics without laboratory evidence for fear of losing the beta-lactams permanently.


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