Treatment of <it>Haemophilus</it> bacteremia with benzylpenicillin is associated with increased (30-day) mortality

Abstract Background Optimal antibiotic treatment strategies of Haemophilus infections are still needed. Therefore, 30-day case fatality rate (CFR) of Haemophilus bacteremia and efficacy of various antibiotic treatment regimes were studied. Methods All episodes of Haemophilus bacteremia in the former Copenhagen County during the period 2000-9 were included in the study. Clinical and biochemical findings and outcome were collected retrospectively from medical records. Results 105 consecutive episodes were identified (median age: 69 years, with only 4 children H. influenzae, and 11% to other Haemophilus species. Pneumonia was the most common primary focus (in 48%), and 58% of the patients had Charlson comorbidity index > 1. Definitive antibiotic therapy was in 26 cases benzylpenicillin, in 12 cases aminopenicillins, in 50 cases cefuroxime and in 16 cases broadspectrum antibiotics, whereas 1 palliative case died without start of therapy. Whereas the use of broadspectrum antibiotics was related to the severity of the disease (admittance to ICU, need for assisted ventilation or hemodialysis, septic shock), no significant difference in clinical features was demonstrated for therapy with benzylpenicillin, aminopenicillin or cefuroxime, except benzylpenicillin was rarely administered to immunosuppressed patients. The CFR was 22% (23/105). The choice of empiric antibiotic therapy was not significantly associated with mortality (adequate vs. inadequate treatment: 23% (21/93) vs. 17% (2/12), respectively, P > 0.05). In contrast, definite antibiotic therapy with cefuroxime or aminopenicillins resulted in a significantly lower CFR than treatment with benzylpenicillin (12% (6/50) or 0% (0/12) vs. 39% (10/26), respectively, Log rank test P  0.02). When adjustments were made for other identified risk factors in bivariate logistic regression analysis, treatment with cefuroxime was still were found to be associated with a significantly lower CFR than for benzylpenicillin: OR: 0.21 (0.06-0.69), P = 0.01 (hospital-acquired bacteremia), OR: 0.27 (0.08-0.91), P = 0.04 (polymicrobial episodes), OR: 0.16 (0.04-0.59), P = 0.006 (admittance at intensive care unit), OR: 0.22 (0.06-0.82), P = 0.02 (alcohol abuse), OR: 0.15 (0.04-0.60), P = 0.008 (altered mental state), OR: 0.22 (0.07-0.71), P = 0.01 (temperature P = 0.02 (septic shock), OR: 0.21 (0.06-0.69), P = 0.01 (mechanical ventilation). Conclusion Our results suggest that, after susceptibility testing, cefuroxime or aminopenicillins are preferable to benzylpenicillins as definitive therapy for Haemophilus bacteremia.</p

Cefuroxime compared to piperacillin/tazobactam as empirical treatment of Escherichia coli bacteremia in a low Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) prevalence cohort

Sara Th&oslash;nnings,1,2 Filip Jans&aring;ker,1,3 Kim Oren Gradel,4,5 Bjarne Styrishave,2 Jenny Dahl Knudsen11Department of Clinical Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark; 2Toxicology Laboratory, Analytical BioSciences, Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 4Center for Clinical Epidemiology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 5Research Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, DenmarkObjectives: On January 18, 2010, a part of the capital region of Denmark shifted the empirical treatment of febrile conditions from cefuroxime to piperacillin/tazobactam. We compare empirical treatment with piperacillin/tazobactam versus cefuroxime for Escherichia coli bacteremia with regard to 14 days mortality, in a low prevalence cohort of Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing E. coli.Methods: From January 18, 2010 to December 31, 2012, we conducted a retrospective cohort study including patients with E. coli bacteremia from six university hospitals in Copenhagen, Denmark. Clinical and laboratory information was obtained from a bacteremia research database, including information on comorbidity, and we used Cox proportional hazard analysis to asses all-cause 14 days mortality.Results: A total of 568 patients receiving either cefuroxime (n=377) or piperacillin/tazobactam (n=191) as empirical therapy were included. In the Cox proportional hazard model, cefuroxime treatment was significantly associated with death (mortality rate ratio 3.95, CI 1.12&ndash;13.90). Other variables associated with death were health care related infection (MRR 3.20, CI 1.67&ndash;6.15), hospital-acquired infection (MRR 2,17, CI 1.02&ndash;4.62), admission at intensive care unit (MRR 20.45, 5.31&ndash;78.82), and combination therapy with ciprofloxacin (MRR 2.14, CI 0.98&ndash;4.68).Conclusion: Empiric cefuroxime treatment of E. coli bacteremia was significantly associated with higher 14 days mortality in comparison with piperacillin/tazobactam.Keywords: piperacillin/tazobactam, cefuroxime, E. coli, bacteremia, mortalit

Prevalence and recurrence of bacteraemia in hospitalised people who inject drugs - a single Centre retrospective cohort study in Denmark

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) have increased risk of acquiring blood-transmitted chronic viral infections such as Hepatitis B (HBV), Hepatitis C (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as well as increased risk of acquiring bacterial infections. We aimed to identify and describe bacteraemic episodes, their recurrence rates, predictive and prognostic factors amongst hospitalised PWID. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we included 257 hospitalised PWID during 2000-2006 with follow up at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Hvidovre Hospital, Denmark. Data collection included comorbidity (HBV-, HCV-, HIV-, and psychiatric comorbidities), social information (contact to an addiction treatment centre, homelessness), opioid substitution treatment (OST), treatment completion and microbiology findings. There was a 10-years follow-up regarding mortality. Results: The study identified 257 patients classified as PWID. Of these, 58 (22.6%) had at least one episode of bacteraemia during their first hospital admission. Recurrence was found in 29 (50.0%) of the bacteraemia cases. Staphylococcus aureus was the dominant microorganism of both first and recurrent episodes with 24 (41.4%) and nine (31.4%) of cases, respectively. A psychiatric diagnose was significantly associated with a lower risk of bacteraemia in the multivariate analysis (OR: 0.29, [95%CI: 0.11-0.77], P = 0.01). Mortality was significantly higher in patients with bacteraemia (17.2% vs. 3.0%, P < 0.01, OR: 6.67 [95%CI: 2.33-20], P < 0.01). Conclusions: In hospitalised PWID, bacteraemia was found in 22.6% and was associated with at higher mortality. The most common microorganism of bacteraemia was S. aureus. Psychiatric comorbidity was significantly associated with a lower risk of bacteraemia