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Antibiotics for treating scrub typhus.

BACKGROUND: Scrub typhus is a cause of fever in regions of Asia and the Pacific. Recently, resistance to antibiotics has been reported. OBJECTIVES: To assess treatment regimens for scrub typhus through time to fever resolution and incidence of relapse. SEARCH STRATEGY: Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and contacted individual researchers for unpublished data. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised and pseudorandomised studies; patients diagnosed with scrub typhus defined by authors; any comparison of antibiotic regimens for treating scrub typhus. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Trial quality was assessed, and data abstracted by both reviewers. MAIN RESULTS: Three trials met the inclusion criteria. One small trial compared tetracycline against chloramphenicol. The other two trials compared doxycycline with tetracycline, and showed little difference in the proportion febrile at 48 hours, with no relapses after either drug. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Tetracycline and doxycycline seem to be effective in treating scrub typhus. Further research is required to identify appropriate treatment in areas where Orientia tsutsugamushi resistant to doxycycline has been reported.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Multiple myeloma presenting as fever of unknown origin.

BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma (MM) itself is not considered to be responsible for fever and is not usually listed among the causes of fever of unknown origin (FUO). METHODS: We report three cases of MM presenting with specific fever that we analyze in combination with the three previously published cases. RESULTS: MM could easily be suspected in most, but not all, cases, emphasizing that bone marrow aspiration should be a part of 'standard' FUO investigations. All patients underwent extensive, sometimes potentially harmful, investigations. Conventional treatment of MM produced a sustained improvement in the temperature curve and inflammatory syndrome in all cases within a few months. Fever recurred during nearly all relapses. Six patients died, one after a disease course of more than 8 years. CONCLUSIONS: This series shows that MM may present as a FUO and that useless and hazardous investigations may be avoided given the possibility of specific fever in this disease. Chemotherapy must be considered without much delay after a reasonable work-up to eliminate any associated process, especially infections.

Journal Article↗

A renal transplant recipient with pulmonary tuberculosis and visceral leishmaniasis: review of superimposed infections and therapy approaches.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an acute or subacute disease that is almost invariably fatal if untreated. It is a rare disease in renal transplant recipients and frequently reported together with other infectious agents. A 39-year-old renal transplant patient was admitted to hospital for elective coronary surgery. In the post-operative period, he developed spiking fever and non-productive cough and his general condition deteriorated. While he was taking medication for non-specific pneumonia, a cavitary lesion occurred in his lung, and he had the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis and antituberculous treatment was started. Despite treatment, his fever continued. As the patient developed pancytopenia and splenomegaly, a bone marrow aspiration was done. Evaluation of bone marrow aspirate indicated Leishmania parasites. He was successfully treated with a more intensive liposomal amphotericin (L-AmB). Complete cure was achieved during follow-up period of 10 months without clinical relapse. In the existence of fever and long-standing pancytopenia, VL should be suspected although the patient had another proved infection and did not live or visit an endemic area. L-AmB usage can be safely preferred for treatment of selected renal transplant recipients with VL as first-line therapy.

Adult↗

Moxalactam in the treatment of typhoid fever.

Moxalactam therapy was evaluated in 25 patients with typhoid fever. A satisfactory initial response was observed in all cases. Treatment for 3 days resulted in a much higher relapse rate (three of five patients) than did treatment for 5 days (one of nine patients). None of the 11 patients treated for 10 to 11 days relapsed. Moxalactam is effective in typhoid fever, but its use is better restricted to special indications.

Adolescent↗

[Relapsing polychondritis with atypical presentation].

Relapsing polychondritis is an episodic systemic disorder, characterized by recurrent inflammation that affects cartilaginous structures, the cardiovascular system, eyes and ears. Although the etiology is unknown, experimental evidence strongly suggest that immunologically mediated mechanisms are implicated. Auricular, articular and nasal manifestations are the most frequent disturbances. In about 30% of cases, relapsing polychondritis is associated with other connective tissue diseases and vasculitis. Actually, the diagnosis is based on the criteria proposed by McAdam, and modified by Damiani. We present a case, whose first manifestations of relapsing polychondritis were an intermittent fever and transient arthralgias. Eight months later, auricular chondritis appeared, and gave us the key to diagnosis.

Aged↗

The spectrum of cardiovascular infections due to Salmonella enterica: a review of clinical features and factors determining outcome.

Cardiovascular infections due to Salmonella enterica are infrequently reported, so their clinical features, prognosis, and optimal treatment are not completely known. Mortality associated with aortitis and endocarditis caused by nontyphoidal Salmonella remains exceedingly high. In this review of cases of cardiovascular infections due to Salmonella enterica studied in 2 hospitals in Madrid, we tried to assess the clinical manifestations and the procedures leading to diagnosis in addition to treatment and outcome. To complete the spectrum of infections related to cardiovascular surgery, cases of postoperative mediastinitis, pericarditis, and infections associated with cardiac devices were also included.Twenty-three patients were reviewed: 11 had mycotic aneurysms; 7 had endocarditis; 2 had device-related infections; and 3 had pericarditis, mediastinitis, and infection of an arteriovenous fistula, respectively. The risk of endovascular infection in patients older than 60 years with bacteremia due to nontyphoidal Salmonella was 23%. Most patients with aortitis had risk factors for atherosclerosis, and 6 had preexisting atherosclerotic aortic aneurysms. All except 1 patient with endocarditis had underlying cardiac disorders. Acquired immunodeficiency disease (AIDS) was a major risk factor for salmonella bacteremia in 1 patient with aortitis and 1 with endocarditis. Fever, unremitting sepsis, "breakthrough" and relapsing bacteremia were the most common clinical findings. In addition, abdominal or thoracic pain and cardiac failure and pericarditis were common features in patients with aortitis and endocarditis respectively. Computed tomography (CT) scan, arteriography, and echocardiography were the main diagnostic tools. Mortality associated with mycotic aneurysms and endocarditis due to S. enterica was 45% and 28%, respectively. Thoracic aneurysms, rupture, and shock at the time of diagnosis were associated with increased mortality in patients with aortitis. In situ bypass grafting was successfully performed in most cases. After surgery, antimicrobial therapy was continued for 4-9 weeks. No relapses were observed after a mean follow-up of 64 months. Antimicrobial therapy alone or combined with valve replacement or excision of a ventricular aneurysm was successful treatment for most patients with salmonella endocarditis. Combined medical and surgical treatment was required for patients with mediastinitis and pericarditis, and patients with device-related infections needed removal of the complete device. Diagnosis of aortitis due to nontyphoidal Salmonella should be established as early as possible to reduce mortality. Patients older than 60 years who have positive blood cultures for Salmonella along with fever and back, abdominal, or chest pain should have an extensive workup for infective aortitis. Immediate bactericidal antimicrobial therapy should be started and a CT scan should be performed on an emergency basis. If a mycotic aneurysm is found, surgical resection should follow as soon as possible. Resection of the aneurysm with in situ bypass grafting is the procedure of choice. Postoperative antimicrobial therapy for 6-8 weeks seems enough to avoid relapses. Optimal treatment of patients with endocarditis occurring on ventricular aneurysms must include resection of the aneurysmal sac. Salmonella endocarditis can be successfully treated with antimicrobials alone. Valve replacement should be reserved for patients with cardiac failure or persisting sepsis, and for those who relapse after discontinuation of antimicrobial therapy.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

[Recurrent polychondritis].

Clinical and histological findings are presented as occurring in a male aged 24 years suffering from relapsing polychondritis (r. p.) of 7 years duration. The presenting symptoms were fever, ataxia, vertigo and vomiting. During the later relapses there also occurred episcleritis, paresis of the glottic muscle and hypertrophic bronchitis. At the age of 22 the patient had had a tracheostomy because of acute respiratory insufficiency. The patient has a typical saddle nose and drooping auricles. Tissues obtained from the auricles showed destructive alterations of the cartilage with fragmentation and homobenization of the elestic fibres. The perichondrium showed fibrosis and a massive round-celled inflammatory infiltration.

Adult↗

Fever in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

In this study among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, more febrile episodes occurred during induction of remission and relapse than during remission. Infection was mainly responsible for fever during remission, regardless of the neutrophil count. However, during induction and relapse, evidence suggests that the underlying malignancy is the more likely cause of fever if the neutrophil count exceeds 200 per mm3. For all cases, the risk of serious infection was high with severe neutropenia (neutrophil count less than 200 per mm3). Of the organisms identified, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria were equally represented. Infection remains a serious problem in the management of children with leukemia.

Bacterial Infections↗

Pain relief with oral cannabinoids in familial Mediterranean fever.

Cannabinoids have analgesic and, possibly, anti-inflammatory properties but their clinical use has been restricted by legislation. This is the first United Kingdom report of the controlled use of a standardised pharmaceutical preparation of cannabinoids in capsular form. The therapy was assessed in a patient with familial Mediterranean fever, who presented with chronic relapsing pain and inflammation of gastrointestinal origin. After determining a suitable analgesic dosage, a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over trial was conducted using 50 mg tetrahydrocannabinol daily in five doses in the active weeks and measuring effects on parameters of inflammation and pain. Although no anti-inflammatory effects of tetrahydrocannabinol were detected during the trial, a highly significant reduction (p < 0.001) in additional analgesic requirements was achieved. Future study designs can now incorporate prescribable forms of cannabinoids but the choice of previous cannabis users only as patients has clinical limitations. Cannabis naive patients would tolerate controlled investigations but may generate medicolegal problems.

Administration, Oral↗

[Factors associated with the prognosis of bacterial meningitis in children].

Treatment of bacterial meningitis depends on its severity. The signs, symptoms, and laboratory values of 51 patients with bacterial meningitis admitting to the Department of Pediatrics at Sendai City Hospital from January 1985 to December 1994 were analyzed in order to evaluate their prognostic value. The overall mortality rate was 3.9%. The incidence of neurological deficit on discharge was 31.4%. According to their prognoses, patients were divided into two groups: those who recovered with no detectable disabilities (good prognosis) and those who died or were left with neurological deficits (poor prognosis). An analysis of these groups using Fisher's exact probability test revealed that the following risk factors were associated with poor prognosis: 1) duration of fever (including the periods of relapse) for more than 10 days ; 2) abnormal findings on brain imaging, such as cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral abscess and subdural effusion: 3 initial serum CRP value above 16 mg/dl; 4) initial CSF glucose value below 12 mg/dl; and 5) initial CSF LDH value above 220 IU/l. Streptococcus pneumoniae infection carried the worst prognosis: the causal organism of both the two fetal cases was S. pneumoniae. The incidence of poor prognosis was also high in S. pneumoniae meningitis (60.0%), compared to those by Hemophilus influenzae (46.7%) and group B streptococcus (25.0%). In the cases in which causal agents were not detected, this incidence was as low as 10 percent, showing significant difference from cases in which causal agents were identified. In order to improve the prognosis of bacterial meningitis, factors associated with poor prognosis should be recognized at early stages of the illness.

Adolescent↗

Inefficacy of ethambutol, ethambutol plus isoniazid, INH plus rifampicin, co-trimoxazole and metronidazole in the treatment of kala-azar.

In an attempt to find an orally effective drug against kala-azar, ethambutol alone, ethambutol plus INH, INH plus rifampicin, co-trimoxazole and metronidazole were tried in the treatment of 70 patients of Indian kala-azar. Ethambutol and ethambutol plus INH were totally ineffective. INH and rifampicin were tried in 10 cases; in three there was some clinical improvement but all relapsed and were cured with sodium stibogluconate. Co-trimoxazole reduced fever in four out of 20 cases, but all relapsed within 2 months. In one case the general health was well maintained but the splenic aspirate contained a large number of parasites and there was no regression in the size of the spleen. The patient was ultimately cured with sodium stibogluconate. Metronidazole orally or intravenously was not effective. It is suggested that, as these drugs are ineffective, a search for an oral substitute to sodium stibogluconate should continue.

Antiprotozoal Agents↗

Radiographic studies for women with recurrent urinary tract infections.

Recent reports have suggested that roentgenographic examination of the urinary tract has little importance in the management of women with recurrent urinary tract infections. We evaluated 78 women with recurrent urinary tract infection with excretory urograms and voiding cystourethrograms. Of the 78 women 5 (6 per cent) had major structural urologic abnormalities requiring further therapy. All women with major abnormalities had risk factors. These risk factors included childhood urinary tract infection, elevated serum creatinine, documented fever more than 38(5), relapsing infection, a history of urinary calculi, infection with a urea-splitting organism. neurologic bladder dysfunction, a history of genitourinary surgery and asymptomatic bacteriuria. We believe that roentgenographic evaluation of the urinary tract is of benefit in selected women with recurrent urinary tract infections.

Adult↗

Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation with BCVAC conditioning in childhood acute myeloid leukemia.

Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (APBSCT) after intensifying conditioning is one of the post-remission therapeutic options in childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients without a matched family donor, but the optimal conditioning regimen has not been defined. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of a novel conditioning regimen without busulfan or total body irradiation. In total, 28 children with AML underwent APBSCT with BCVAC (BCNU, etoposide, cytosine arabinoside and cyclophosphamide) conditioning regimen during first remission. The event-free survival rate was 71.43% for all patients and the only cause of treatment failure was relapse. Eight male patients recurred at 1-11 months (median 5 months) after APBSCT. One patient remains alive with salvage therapy after relapse. With the exception of fever, mucositis and diarrhea, no serious complications occurred during APBSCT, including veno-occlusive disease (VOD), and there was no transplantation-related mortality. One patient developed secondary MDS after APBSCT but recovered hematologically on medication. APBSCT with BCVAC conditioning was found to be a safe and effective alternative option for patients with childhood AML in first remission, without a matched family donor.

Acute Disease↗

Galactomannan and computed tomography-based preemptive antifungal therapy in neutropenic patients at high risk for invasive fungal infection: a prospective feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Empirical antifungal therapy is the standard treatment for persistent or relapsing antibiotic-resistant neutropenic fever. However, overtreatment resulting in increased toxicity and treatment-related cost is a major shortcoming of such therapy. We assessed the feasibility of a "preemptive" approach based on the incorporation of sensitive, noninvasive diagnostic tests for consecutive high-risk neutropenic patients who had received fluconazole prophylaxis while avoiding empirical therapy. METHODS: A total of 136 treatment episodes for persons who were at risk of acquiring invasive fungal infection (IFI) were screened for the presence of galactomannan with an enzyme immunoassay. A diagnostic evaluation, which included thoracic computed tomography scanning (HRCT) and bronchoscopy with lavage, was performed on the basis of well-defined clinical, radiological, and microbiological criteria. Only seropositive patients and patients with a positive microbiological test result plus supportive radiological findings received liposomal amphotericin B. RESULTS: Neutropenic fever developed in 117 episodes, of which at least 41 episodes (35%) satisfied existing criteria for empirical antifungal therapy. However, our protocol-driven preemptive approach reduced the rate of antifungal use for these episodes from 35% to 7.7% (a 78% reduction) and led to the early initiation of antifungal therapy in 10 episodes (7.3%) that were clinically not suspected of being IFI. No undetected cases of invasive aspergillosis were identified; 1 case of zygomycosis was missed. Breakthrough candidemia was diagnosed by conventional culture techniques and was treated successfully. With use of a preemptive approach, the 12-week survival rate for patients with IFI was 63.6% (it was 63.1% for those with invasive aspergillosis). CONCLUSION: Preemptive therapy based on enzyme immunoassay and HRCT reduced the exposure to expensive and potentially toxic drugs and offered effective antifungal control, but it failed to detect non-Aspergillus IFI.

Adolescent↗

Right-sided valvular endocarditis supported by an unexpected intracardiac foreign body.

One case of tricuspid valve endocarditis due to a catheter fragment inside the right chambers of the heart is described. The symptoms were fever, cardiac failure, splenomegaly and relapsing pneumonia. Blood culture was positive, revealing Staphylococcus aureus. A two-dimensional echocardiogram demonstrated a large vegetation on the tricuspid valve. The percutaneous removal of the foreign body allowed complete recovery in a few weeks.

Aged↗

[Successful treatment of Weber-Christian panniculitis with cyclosporin-A].

The inflammatory disease of the subcutaneous fatty tissue are called panniculitis. The panniculitis has got a septal and a lobular histopathologic type. In the opinion of the etiologic classification occurs idiopathic (primary) or secondary entity. The secondary illnesses develop as the result of physical, chemical, biochemical, immunological, degenerative and proliferative reactions. In a part of panniculitis the etiologic factor is unknown. The authors demonstrate a rare type of the panniculitis, the Weber-Christian syndrome. This disease is an acute relapsing panniculitis with unknown etiology, fever, general symptoms and typical subcutaneous nodes. In their case the histological examination of the subcutaneous node resulted in non-suppurative, lobular panniculitis. The oral metilprednisolon and the occurring twice parenteral cyclophosphamide treatment had been proved to be unsuccessful, for this reason they started cyclosporin A therapy. Because of the cyclosporin A treatment the subcutaneous nodes regressed, the general symptoms ceased and the pathological laboratory findings became normal. The patient is asymptomatic under permanent therapy now. The authors discuss the differential diagnostic of this illness and the ways of treatments.

Aged↗

[Weight loss, fever, dyspnea].

A 41-year-old homosexual man complained about weight loss of 14 kg over a period of 6 months. He developed exertional dyspnea and fever up to 39.6 degrees C. The ESR was elevated and the fraction of immature neutrophils increased. Penicillin was administered with no effect, chest X-ray showed basal pulmonary infiltrates, P. carinii was found in bronchioalveolar fluid. HIV-serology was positive. Sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (1600/320 mg daily) and 100 mg of prednisolone/die led to reduction of fever. Prevention of P. carinii pneumonia relapse is currently underway with bi-weekly inhalation of pentamidine-isethionate aerosol.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗