Epidemiology of invasive candidiasis in a surgical intensive care unit: an observational study

Background: Invasive candidiasis (IC) is a frequent and life-threatening infection in critically ill patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of IC and the antifungal susceptibility of etiological agents in patients admitted to our surgical intensive care unit (SICU) in Spain. Methods: We designed a prospective, observational, single center, population-based study in a SICU. We included all consecutive adult patients (≥18 years old) who had documented IC, either on admission or during their stay, between January 2012 and December 2013. Results: There were a total of 22 episodes of IC in the 1149 patients admitted during the 24-month study. The overall IC incidence was 19.1 cases per 1000 admissions. Thirteen cases of IC (59.1 %) were intra-abdominal candidiasis (IAC) and 9 (40.9 %) were candidemias. All cases of IAC were patients with secondary peritonitis and severe sepsis or septic shock. The overall crude mortality rate was 13.6 %; while, it was 33 % in patients with candidemia. All patients with IAC survived, including one patient with concomitant candidemia. The most common species causing IC was Candida albicans (13; 59.1 %) followed by Candida parapsilosis (5; 22.7 %), and Candida glabrata (2; 9.1 %). There was also one case each (4.5 %) of Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis. Thus, the ratio of non-C. albicans (9) to C. albicans (13) was 1:1.4. There was resistance to fluconazole and itraconazole in 13.6 % of cases. Resistance to other antifungals was uncommon. Conclusions: Candida parapsilosis was the second most common species after C. albicans, indicating the high prevalence of non-C. albicans species in the SICU. Resistance to azoles, particularly fluconazole, should be considered when starting an empirical treatment. Although IAC is a very frequent form of IC in critically ill surgical patients, prompt antifungal therapy and adequate source control appears to lead to a good outcome. However, our results are closely related to our ICU and any generalization must be taken with caution. Therefore, further investigations are needed. Keywords: Intensive care unit, Invasive candidiasis, Candidemia, Antifungal susceptibilit

Daptomycin Plus Fosfomycin Versus Daptomycin Alone for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia and Endocarditis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Bacteremia; Daptomycin; FosfomycinBacterièmia; Daptomicina; FosfomicinaBacteriemia; Daptomicina; FosfomicinaBackground We aimed to determine whether daptomycin plus fosfomycin provides higher treatment success than daptomycin alone for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia and endocarditis. Methods A randomized (1:1) phase 3 superiority, open-label, and parallel group clinical trial of adult inpatients with MRSA bacteremia was conducted at 18 Spanish hospitals. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either 10 mg/kg of daptomycin intravenously daily plus 2 g of fosfomycin intravenously every 6 hours, or 10 mg/kg of daptomycin intravenously daily. Primary endpoint was treatment success 6 weeks after the end of therapy. Results Of 167 patients randomized, 155 completed the trial and were assessed for the primary endpoint. Treatment success at 6 weeks after the end of therapy was achieved in 40 of 74 patients who received daptomycin plus fosfomycin and in 34 of 81 patients who were given daptomycin alone (54.1% vs 42.0%; relative risk, 1.29 [95% confidence interval, .93–1.8]; P = .135). At 6 weeks, daptomycin plus fosfomycin was associated with lower microbiologic failure (0 vs 9 patients; P = .003) and lower complicated bacteremia (16.2% vs 32.1%; P = .022). Adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation occurred in 13 of 74 patients (17.6%) receiving daptomycin plus fosfomycin, and in 4 of 81 patients (4.9%) receiving daptomycin alone (P = .018). Conclusions Daptomycin plus fosfomycin provided 12% higher rate of treatment success than daptomycin alone, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. This antibiotic combination prevented microbiological failure and complicated bacteremia, but it was more often associated with adverse events.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PI12/01907); Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (RD16/0016/0005); Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); and Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. This work was also supported by the European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe,” Operational Programme Intelligent Growth 2014–2020; Spanish Clinical Research Network (SCReN), co-financed by the Plan Nacional de I+D and ISCIII, Subdirección General de Evaluación y Fomento de la Investigación (PT13/0002/0007); and the Grupo de Estudio de la Infección Relacionada con la Asistencia Sanitaria. J. M.-M. received a personal 80:20 research grant from the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques Agust Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, Spain, during 2017–2021

Global Emergence of Resistance to Fluconazole and Voriconazole in Candida parapsilosis in Tertiary Hospitals in Spain During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Candida parapsilosis; Antifungal resistance; OutbreaksCandida parapsilosis; Resistencia antifúngica; BrotesCandida parapsilosis; Resistència antifúngica; BrotsBackground Candida parapsilosis is a frequent cause of candidemia worldwide. Its incidence is associated with the use of medical implants, such as central venous catheters or parenteral nutrition. This species has reduced susceptibility to echinocandins, and it is susceptible to polyenes and azoles. Multiple outbreaks caused by fluconazole-nonsusceptible strains have been reported recently. A similar trend has been observed among the C. parapsilosis isolates received in the last 2 years at the Spanish Mycology Reference Laboratory. Methods Yeast were identified by molecular biology, and antifungal susceptibility testing was performed using the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing protocol. The ERG11 gene was sequenced to identify resistance mechanisms, and strain typing was carried out by microsatellite analysis. Results We examined the susceptibility profile of 1315 C. parapsilosis isolates available at our reference laboratory between 2000 and 2021, noticing an increase in the number of isolates with acquired resistance to fluconazole, and voriconazole has increased in at least 8 different Spanish hospitals in 2020–2021. From 121 recorded clones, 3 were identified as the most prevalent in Spain (clone 10 in Catalonia and clone 96 in Castilla-Leon and Madrid, whereas clone 67 was found in 2 geographically unrelated regions, Cantabria and the Balearic Islands). Conclusions Our data suggest that concurrently with the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, a selection of fluconazole-resistant C. parapsilosis isolates has occurred in Spain, and the expansion of specific clones has been noted across centers. Further research is needed to determine the factors that underlie the successful expansion of these clones and their potential genetic relatedness.O.Z. was funded by grants SAF2017–86912-R and PID2020–114546RB-I00 from the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation. This work was also funded by the National Centre for Microbiology (Instituto de Salud Carlos III) through the Surveillance Program of Antifungal Resistance and the Center for Biomedical Research in Network of Infectious Diseases CIBERINFECTCB21/13/00105 (O.Z. and L.A.F.), CIBERINFEC-CB21/13/00009 (M.P.-A.), CIBERES-CB06/06/0037 (C.A.-T.), and CIBERES-CB06/06/0058 (J.G). L.A.-F. was supported by Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (MPY 117/18 and MPY 305/20). We thank Dr. David Campany Herrero (Vall d’Hebron Hospital), Noelia Garrido Peño (Móstoles Hospital), David Gómez Gómez y Aitziber Illaro Uranga (Marqués de Valdecilla Hospital), María Ángeles Machín Morón (Burgos Hospital), Jose Manuel Caro Teller (Doce de Octubre Hospital), Marina Calvo (Puerta de Hierro Hospital), and Ariadna Padulles (Bellvitge Hospital) for providing the data on antifungal consumption from their hospitals. We also thank Ángel Zaballos and Pilar Jiménez from the Genomics Core Facility from Instituto de Salud Carlos III for their technical help with the microsatellite analysis technique

Compartir ideas, la universidad va al instituto. Análisis de la primera edición de un proyecto de aprendizaje servicio transversal a la Universidad de Barcelona

Esta comunicación presenta las principales claves de análisis y evaluación de la 1a edición del proyecto Compartir Ideas. La Universidad va al instituto. Este es un proyecto de aprendizaje servicio transversal que consiste en un ciclo de conferencias-taller impartidas por estudiantes de la UB sobre temes de interés general relacionados con sus estudios. El objetivo es compartir conocimientos y conversar sobre un tema que la universidad trabaja y que será relevante para la formación del alumnado de secundaria.El proyecto cuenta con el apoyo del Vicerectorado de Política Docente y Lingüística de la Universitat de Barcelona

Balancing the immune response in the brain: IL-10 and its regulation

Background: The inflammatory response is critical to fight insults, such as pathogen invasion or tissue damage, but if not resolved often becomes detrimental to the host. A growing body of evidence places non-resolved inflammation at the core of various pathologies, from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases. It is therefore not surprising that the immune system has evolved several regulatory mechanisms to achieve maximum protection in the absence of pathology. Main body: The production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 is one of the most important mechanisms evolved by many immune cells to counteract damage driven by excessive inflammation. Innate immune cells of the central nervous system, notably microglia, are no exception and produce IL-10 downstream of pattern recognition receptors activation. However, whereas the molecular mechanisms regulating IL-10 expression by innate and acquired immune cells of the periphery have been extensively addressed, our knowledge on the modulation of IL-10 expression by central nervous cells is much scattered. This review addresses the current understanding on the molecular mechanisms regulating IL-10 expression by innate immune cells of the brain and the implications of IL-10 modulation in neurodegenerative disorders. Conclusion: The regulation of IL-10 production by central nervous cells remains a challenging field. Answering the many remaining outstanding questions will contribute to the design of targeted approaches aiming at controlling deleterious inflammation in the brain.We acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for providing a PhD grant to DLS (SFRH/BD/88081/2012) and a post-doctoral fellowship to SR (SFRH/BPD/72710/2010). DS, AGC and SR were funded by FEDER through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE) and National Funds through FCT under the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER007038; and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The MS lab was financed by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) funds through the COMPETE 2020—Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT in the framework of the project “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences ” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274). MS is a FCT Associate Investigator. The funding body had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data and in writing the manuscript

Oral antibiotic prophylaxis lowers surgical site infection in elective colorectal surgery: results of a pragmatic cohort study in Catalonia

Background: The role of oral antibiotic prophylaxis (OAP) and mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) in the prevention of surgical site infection (SSI) after colorectal surgery is still controversial. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of a bundle including both measures in a National Infection Surveillance Network in Catalonia. Methods: Pragmatic cohort study to assess the effect of OAP and MBP in reducing SSI rate in 65 hospitals, comparing baseline phase (BP: 2007-2015) with implementation phase (IP: 2016-2019). To compare the results, a logistic regression model was established. Results: Out of 34,421 colorectal operations, 5180 had SSIs (15.05%). Overall SSI rate decreased from 18.81% to 11.10% in BP and IP, respectively (OR 0.539, CI95 0.507-0.573, p < 0.0001). Information about bundle implementation was complete in 61.7% of cases. In a univariate analysis, OAP and MBP were independent factors in decreasing overall SSI, with OR 0.555, CI95 0.483-0.638, and OR 0.686, CI95 0.589-0.798, respectively; and similarly, organ/space SSI (O/S-SSI) (OR 0.592, CI95 0.494-0.710, and OR 0.771, CI95 0.630-0.944, respectively). However, only OAP retained its protective effect at both levels at multivariate analyses. Conclusions: oral antibiotic prophylaxis decreased the rates of SSI and O/S-SSI in a large series of elective colorectal surger

Quality of life and psychological status in people with acromegaly in relation to disease-related facial changes

Introduction: The diagnosis of acromegaly is often delayed, leading to facial disfigurements that persist despite endocrine cure. We aimed to study the relationship between facial modifications, Quality of Life (QoL), and psychologic status in patients with acromegaly. Methods: Sixty-five patients in remission or with hormonal disease control participated (29 women and 36 men; mean age 57.4±13.5 years). The following variables were assessed: a) Quality of life using AcroQoL; b) Anxiety level with the STAI Questionnaire; c) Self-esteem by the Rosemberg Scale; and d) Facial acromegaly phenotypic changes evaluated from photographs by 8 experienced endocrinologists using a Likert scale. Results: The overall AcroQoL score showed mid-range values, with better scores for men (72.3 vs 56.6, p=0.022). AcroQoL physical domain was also higher for men (59.0 vs 34.9, p=0.006). In the psychological domain, men tended to score better (65.7 vs 54.5, p=0.069), particularly in the appearance subdimension (53.8 vs 38.8, p=0.07), while women had worse anxiety scores (p=0.009). Global self-esteem was high (2.7 ± 0.6 for a maximal value of 3), without sex differences. A trend towards a negative correlation between self-esteem and facial scores was observed (rs= -0.559, p=0.074), indicating a low psychological impact. Conclusion: In controlled acromegaly, QoL is relatively preserved in both genders, although men have better anxiety scores. Facial changes have a weak but persistent negative impact on psychological status, with greater intensity observed in women

Automated surveillance for surgical site infections (SSI) in hospitals and surveillance networks–expert perspectives for implementation

BackgroundThis work aims at providing practical recommendations for implementing automated surveillance (AS) of surgical site infections (SSI) in hospitals and surveillance networks. It also provides an overview of the steps, choices, and obstacles that need to be taken into consideration when implementing such surveillance. Hands-on experience with existing automated surveillance systems of SSI (AS SSI systems) in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Spain is described regarding trend monitoring, benchmarking, quality control, and research for surveillance purposes.MethodsBetween April and October 2023, specific aspects/options of various surveillance purposes for AS SSI were identified during regular meetings of the SSI working group in the PRAISE (Providing a Roadmap for Automated Infection Surveillance in Europe) network. Expert discussions provided the basis for this perspective article.ResultsDecisions for implementation of AS SSI systems highly depend on the purpose of the surveillance. AS SSI systems presented here differ according to study population, setting, central or local implementation; the level of automation, design, and the data sources used. However, similarities were found for the rationales of automation, design principles and obstacles that were identified. There was consensus among all the experts that shortcomings in interoperability of databases, limited time, a want of commitment on the part of stakeholders, and a shortage of resources for information technology (IT) specialists represent the main obstacles for implementing AS SSI. To overcome obstacles, various solutions were reported, including training in the development of AS systems and the interpretation of AS SSI results, early consultation of end-users, and regular exchanges between management levels, IT departments, infection prevention and control (IPC) teams, and clinicians.ConclusionClarity on the intended application (e.g. purpose of surveillance) and information on the availability of electronic and structured data are crucial first steps necessary for guiding decisions on the design of AS systems. Adequate resources for IT specialists and regular communication between management, IT departments, IPC teams, and clinicians were identified as essential for successful implementation. This perspective article may be helpful for a wider implementation of more homogeneous AS SSI systems in Europe

Factors associated with the development of septic shock in patients with candidemia: A post hoc analysis from two prospective cohorts

Background: Almost one third of the patients with candidemia develop septic shock. The understanding why some patients do and others do not develop septic shock is very limited. The objective of this study was to identify variables associated with septic shock development in a large population of patients with candidemia. Methods: A post hoc analysis was performed on two prospective, multicenter cohort of patients with candidemia from 12 hospitals in Spain and Italy. All episodes occurring from September 2016 to February 2018 were analyzed to assess variables associated with septic shock development defined according to The Third International Consensus Definition for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3). Results: Of 317 candidemic patients, 99 (31.2%) presented septic shock attributable to candidemia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identifies the following factors associated with septic shock development: age > 50 years (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.03-6.41, p = 0.04), abdominal source of the infection (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.04-4.55, p = 0.04), and admission to a general ward at the time of candidemia onset (OR 0.21, 95% CI, 0.12-0.44, p = 0.001). Septic shock development was independently associated with a greater risk of 30-day mortality (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.08-4.24, p = 0.02). Conclusions: Age and abdominal source of the infection are the most important factors significantly associated with the development of septic shock in patients with candidemia. Our findings suggest that host factors and source of the infection may be more important for development of septic shock than intrinsic virulence factors of organisms