Clinical features and therapeutic interventions in 17 cases of Bacillus bacteremia in an immunosuppressed patient population.

We retrospectively examined episodes of Bacillus bacteremia at a hospital with a large proportion of immunosuppressed patients. Seventeen episodes in 9.5 years met our case definition: two of two bottles of one blood culture or one of two bottles of two or more separately obtained blood cultures drawn on the same date. During the same period, there were 59 additional episodes in which a single blood culture had only one of two bottles positive for Bacillus species. Only 2 of 59 such episodes resulted in recurrent bacteremia (3%), as compared with 5 of 17 episodes meeting our case definition (29%) (P = 0.004). In four of five episodes complicated by recurrent bacteremia and in which appropriate antibiotics were used, a Hickman-Broviac catheter was in place and was not removed. We suggest that our case definition permits the differentiation of infection from contamination based on outcome and that patients with Bacillus bacteremia have chronic venous catheters removed as well as receive antibiotic treatment.     

Fluoride release from a fluoride-containing amalgam, a glass ionomer cement and a silicate cement in artificial saliva

This study aimed to compare the fluoride release from a flouride-containing amalgam, a silicate cement and a glass ionomer cement in artificial saliva. After storing specimens in an artificial saliva for 7 weeks, the fluoride content in the solvent was measured by a spectrophotometric method. The fluoride release from silicate cement was about 5 times greater than from glass ionomer cement, which again showed a release 4 times greater than the fluoride-containing amalgam. The fluoride release relative to fluoride content in test specimens was greater from fluoride-containing amalgam and silicate cement than from glass ionomer cement.