Unusual cause of severe toxic methemoglobinemia in an infant: a case report

Toxic methemoglobinemia is an uncommon blood disorder induced by exposure to certain oxidizing agents and drugs. In severe cases, this condition may rapidly lead to major cardiopulmonary compromise and constitutes an emergency requiring prompt recognition and early management. We report an unusual case of severe toxic methemoglobinemia following wide cutaneous application of a pomade containing benzocaine, resorcin, and oxyquinoline (Nestosyl®) in an infant

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) report, data summary for 2003-2008, issued June 2009

Q3Artículo original95-106We report the results of the International Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2003 throughDecember 2008 in 173 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study, using Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) US National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infec-tion Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infection, we collected prospective datafrom 155,358 patients hospitalized in the consortium’s hospital ICUs for an aggregate of 923,624 days. Although device utilizationin the developing countries’ ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported from US ICUs in the CDC’s NHSN, rates of device-asso-ciated nosocomial infection were markedly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central venous catheter(CVC)-associated bloodstream infections (BSI) in the INICC ICUs, 7.6 per 1000 CVC-days, is nearly 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per1000 CVC-days reported from comparable US ICUs, and the overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) was also farhigher, 13.6 versus 3.3 per 1000 ventilator-days, respectively, as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI),6.3 versus 3.3 per 1000 catheter-days, respectively. Most strikingly, the frequencies of resistance ofStaphylococcus aureusisolatesto methicillin (MRSA) (84.1% vs 56.8%, respectively),Klebsiella pneumoniaeto ceftazidime or ceftriaxone (76.1% vs 27.1%, respec-tively),Acinetobacter baumanniito imipenem (46.3% vs 29.2%, respectively), andPseudomonas aeruginosato piperacillin (78.0%vs 20.2%, respectively) were also far higher in the consortium’s ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-relatedinfections ranged from 23.6% (CVC-associated bloodstream infections) to 29.3% (VAP)

Critically ill infants with SARS-COV-2 delta variant infection

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is described to cause mild to moderate symptoms in children. To date, clinical data and symptoms of the Delta variant in pediatric patients are lacking. Aim: To describe clinical characteristics and outcomes of infants admitted in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) during the period of Delta variant predominance. Methods: We performed a retrospective study, between June 23, 2021 and August 16, 2021. We included children aged under 15 years, admitted to PICU with severe and critical form of SARS-CoV-2 infection as confirmed by RT-PCR. We reviewed medical records for all patients. Results: During the study period, 20 infants were included. The median age was 47 days (IQR: 26.5–77). The sex ratio was 0.8 (9 males). No underlying medical conditions were noted. Parents were not vaccinated. Respiratory involvement was the main feature to be observed in our cohort. Eleven patients had pediatric acute respiratory distress (PARDS) with a median oxygen saturation index (OSI) of 9 (IQR: 7–11). PARDS was mild in 4 cases, moderate in 5 cases and severe in 2 cases. Hemodynamic instability was observed in 4 cases. The main radiological finding was ground glass opacities in 11 cases. Seventeen patients were mechanically ventilated and 3 of them were escalated to high-frequency oscillatory ventilation. The median duration of mechanical ventilation was 6 days (IQR 2.5–12.5). The remaining patients were managed with high flow nasal cannula. Four patients died. Conclusion: We report herein a case series of very young infants, with no comorbidities, and with a life-threatening illness due to SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant

Findings of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC), Part III Effectiveness of a Multidimensional Infection Control Approach to Reduce Central Line—Associated Bloodstream Infections in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of 4 Developing Countries

OBJECTIVE. To analyze the impact of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) multidimensional infection control approach to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates. SETTING. Four neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) of INICC member hospitals from El Salvador, Mexico, Philippines, and Tunisia. PATIENTS. A total of 2,241 patients hospitalized in 4 NICUs for 40,045 bed-days. METHODS. We conducted a before-after prospective surveillance study. During Phase 1 we performed active surveillance, and during phase 2 the INICC multidimensional infection control approach was implemented, including the following practices: (1) central line care bundle, (2) education, (3) outcome surveillance, (4) process surveillance, (5) feedback of CLABSI rates, and (6) performance feedback of infection control practices. We compared CLABSI rates obtained during the 2 phases. We calculated crude stratified rates, and, using random-effects Poisson regression to allow for clustering by ICU, we calculated the incidence rate ratio (IRR) for each follow-up time period compared with the 3-month baseline. RESULTS. During phase 1 we recorded 2,105 CL-days, and during phase 2 we recorded 17,117 CL-days. After implementation of the multidimensional approach, the CLABSI rate decreased by 55%, from 21.4 per 1,000 CL-days during phase 1 to 9.7 per 1,000 CL-days during phase 2 (rate ratio, 0.45 [95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.63]). The IRR was 0.53 during the 4-12-month period and 0.07 during the final period of the study (more than 45 months). CONCLUSIONS. Implementation of a multidimensional infection control approach was associated with a significant reduction in CLABSI rates in NICUs. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2013;34(3):229-23