Biomedical subjects
W Khayr
Publications and source records attributed to W Khayr.
Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in acute and long-term care facilities.
This report presents an overview of the epidemiology, diagnosis, complications, and treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in acute and long-term care facilities. More studies are needed to understand the epidemiology of this disease in long-term care facilities, to identify the risk factors for its recurrence, and to evaluate new treatment modalities.
Epidemiological spectrum and current treatment of listeriosis.
To reassess the epidemiology and treatment of listeriosis in the United States, we reviewed greater than 120 cases of listeriosis from four medical centers in three geographically separated cities: Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center (LAC-USCMC); Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital, Chicago; the University of Illinois Hospital, Chicago; and Vanderbilt University Hospital, Nashville, Tennessee. The epidemiological pattern at LAC-USCMC was relatively narrow; more than two-thirds of the cases occurred during the perinatal period. Cases at Vanderbilt University Hospital represented the opposite end of the spectrum; the majority of these occurred in nonpregnant, older adults who had received organ transplants. An intermediate pattern of cases was observed at the two medical centers in Chicago. Potential risk factors included pregnancy, neonatal status, organ transplantation, renal failure, malignancy, systemic lupus erythematosus, steroid therapy, and AIDS (two cases). Antimicrobial agents noted to be effective were, as expected, penicillin and ampicillin; the cephalosporins were ineffective. The mortality associated with listeriosis occurred mainly among premature infants and stillbirths delivered from infected pregnant women and was markedly less among neonates and adults.