Candidaemia: a 10-year study in an Indian teaching hospital

Retrospective evaluation of candidaemia patients was performed in an Indian teaching hospital over a 10-year period. The incidence of patients with candidaemia increased eleven-fold in the second half of the study period (55 patients) compared with the first half (5 patients). Haematological malignancies (11 patients), neonatal septicaemia (9), cardiac abnormalities and cardiac surgery (9) were the commonest underlying diseases in these patients. Candida albicans (50%), C. guilliermondii (17%), C. tropicalis (15%) and C. parapsilosis (8%) were the most common fungal pathogens isolated from blood culture. Therapy with two or more antibiotics (92%), corticosteroid administration (25%), intravascular catheter use for over 24 h (78%) and neutropenia (48%) were the accountable predisposing factors. Prolonged hospitalization (mean average 22.2 days as compared with 11.2 days in other patients) was an added risk factor in these patients.     

Hypocomplementaemia caused by C3 nephritic factors (C3 NeF): clinical findings and the coincidence of C3 NeF type II with anti-C1q autoantibodies

Abstract. Skattum L, MBrtensson U, Sjoholm AG (Lund University, Lund, Sweden). Hypocomple-mentaemia caused by C3 nephritic factors (C3 NeF): clinical findings and the coincidence of C3 NeF type I1 with anti-Clq autoantibodies. 1 Intern Med 1997; 242: 455-64.
Objectives: The main purposes were to document manifestations associated with prolonged or clinical ly unexplained C3 deficiency and to approximate how often hypocomplementaemia of this kind is caused by C3 nephritic factors (C3 NeF), i.e. autoantibodies to alternative pathway C3 convertases. We also wished to distinguish between C3 NeF types I and I1 and to assess coincident autoantibody responses to the collagen-like region of Clq (ClqCLR).
Setting: The investigation was based on serum Samples referred to a specialized laboratory for complement analysis in the course of several years.
Subjects: Twenty-five persons with C3 concentrations lower than 0.43 g L', a third of the normal, were included in the study.
Results: Analysis using three methods provided evidence of C3 NeF in 20 persons with equal frequencies of C3 NeF types I and 11. We also gave evidence of antibody specificity differences for the two types of C3 NeF. Six patients with C3 NeF type I1 showed antibodies to C1 qCLR. Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis was the predominant diagnosis and two patients had partial lipodystrophy reflecting the wellknown association between these diseases and C3 NeF. Anaphylactoid purpura, systemic lupus erythematosus, and severe infection, mainly meningococcal disease, were also observed.
Conclusions: The study group was probably fairly representative of C3 deficiency syndromes as encountered in clinical practice. The findings emphasize the heterogeneity of C3 NeF, and that acquired C3 deficiency syndromes caused by C3 NeF should perhaps be considered more often in diagnostic work.     

医院感染及漏报率统计分析

目的　了解我院医院感染发生及漏报率。方法　将我院 2 0 0 3年 1～ 12月出院的所有病例进行回顾性调查。结果　医院感染率 7.3 2 %、漏报率 14 .93 %,均符合国家卫生部要求。结论　做好医院感染监测工作 ,严格执行各项工作制度 ,掌握医院感染与手术并发症的鉴别诊断 ,提高医院感染诊断的准确率     

重症急性胰腺炎并发深部真菌感染21例分析

目的探讨SAP并发深部真菌感染的易感因素以及防治的方法。方法分析1998年9月至2004年10月收治的81例SAP患者资料，其中并发深部真菌感染的21例作为真菌感染组，其余60例作为非感染组，比较两组患者的诊治方法与措施，分析真菌感染的危险因素。结果经糖皮质激素应用、腹腔灌洗、胃肠减压等一系列诊治措施，真菌感染组19例患者病愈出院，2例死亡。两组在糖皮质激素应用、中心静脉置管、全胃肠外营养、空肠营养、呼吸机支持、腹腔灌洗和囊肿穿刺等方面差异显著（P〈0．05）。结论糖尿病、老年、呼吸机支持和重症监护客观因素等为真菌感染的危险因素。合理应用抗生素和预防性应用抗真菌药物可以减少感染机会，提高SAP的救治存活率。     

Abdominal zygomycotic thromboangiitis in a patient with AML and t(1;13;14)

 The case report of a 61 year-old man with AML M2 FAB, t(1; 13; 14) and zygomycotic mesenterial thromboangiitis is presented. Two induction cycles of chemotherapy were administered due to primary drug resistance. They were complicated by pneumonia, colonic pseudo-obstruction and perforation with peritonitis. The patient died on the 40th day of therapy, 4 days after undergoing palliative surgery. Zygomycotic thromboangiitis, which very probably contributed to the intestinal perforation, was confirmed morphologically at necropsy. The novel complex chromosomal translocation t(1; 13; 14) (q31; q32; q24) and the problems connected with the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections are discussed. Received: 26 January 1996 / Accepted: 12 June 1996     

Rapid diagnosis of parasitic diseases: current scenario and future needs

Background

Parasitic diseases are one of the world's most devastating and prevalent infections, causing millions of morbidities and mortalities annually. In the past, many of these infections have been linked predominantly to tropical or subtropical areas. Nowadays, however, climatic and vector ecology changes, a significant increase in international travel, armed conflicts, and migration of humans and animals have influenced the transmission of some parasitic diseases from ‘book pages’ to reality in developed countries. It has also been noted that many patients who have never travelled to endemic areas suffer from blood-borne infections caused by protozoa. In the light of existing knowledge, this new trend can be explained by the fact that in the process of migration a large number of asymptomatic carriers become a part of the blood bank donor and transplant donor populations. Accurate and rapid diagnosis represents the crucial weapon in the fight against parasitic infections.

HLA-A,B,C and DR antigen frequencies in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients with opportunistic infections

During the past three years, an epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndromes (AIDS) involving the presence of specific forms of cancer (notably Kaposi's sarcoma) and infection (e.g., pneumocystis carinii) ordinarily seen only in severely immunosuppressed hosts has occurred among active homosexuals, Haitian immigrants, drug users, and hemophiliacs in large cities in the United States and elsewhere. An as yet unidentified viral agent is presumably the cause of the initial immunodeficiency and host genetic factors may influence the subsequent development of different clinical symptoms in different patients. We have previously reported that the HLA antigens DR5 and DR2 are associated with susceptibility to Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in different Caucasian subpopulations. We now have also noted that AIDS patients with opportunistic infections have a normal frequency of DR2 and DR5 and a significantly increased frequency of DR3 and that the ultimate clinical expression of AIDS in patients with unexplained lymphadenopathy may depend upon genetic factors associated with these particular DR types.     

Intestinal Spirochetosis and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: Ultrastructural Studies of Two Cases

Two cases of intestinal spirochetosis (IS) with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are reported. In case 1, a 48-year-old homosexual black man presented with a 1-month history of alternating watery diarrhea and constipation, which dissipated following the removal of two colonic hyperplastic polyps containing IS. In case 2, a 26-year-old homosexual black man presented with a 3-month history of persistent bloody diarrhea and was found to have chronic shigellosis and IS. Pathologic findings of IS were similar in both cases. Basophilic fringes typical of IS covered the surfacing colonic epithelium and consisted of dense growths of spirochetes adherent to and oriented perpendicular to the plasma membranes of the surfacing epithelium. The spirochetes measured 3 to 5 μm in length and 0.2 (im in width, contained four to eight axial fibrils, and closely resembled Brachyspira aalborgi ultrastructurally. These cases are notable because the histopathologic changes of IS were more extensive than generally described. There was involvement of both the right colon and rectum by IS in case 2, and in both cases there was extension of the IS down into the crypts of Lieberkiihn, spirochetal invasion of the colonic mucosa, and a conspicuous inflammatory response by macrophages in the underlying lamina propria.     

Histopathology of mixed anaerobic intraabdominal infection in mice

Summary This study characterized acute peritonitis and chronic abscess formation resulting from experimental mixed anaerobic infection withBacteroides melaninogenicus andFusobacterium necrophorum. At intervals after infection liver and spleen samples were obtained, fixed, and processed for histological examination. An acute to chronic infection progressed in mice infected with this mixture of anaerobic bacteria, whereas, no infection resulted when either organism was injected alone. Acute inflammatory cell infiltrates were noted in tissue samples at 12 h postinfection. Small, discrete areas of liver cell necrosis with neutrophilic infiltrates were observed as early as 24 h. By 48 h after infection the liver parenchyma was infiltrated with both acute and chronic inflammatory cells, with moderate to severe hepatocyte degeneration recognized at 72 h. Large intrahepatic abscesses were present in the subphrenic (upper lobe) area 2 to 6 weeks after experimental infection.     

Selective IgG subclass deficiency: quantification and clinical relevance

Each of the four human IgG subclasses exhibits a unique profile of effector functions relevant to the clearance and elimination of infecting microorganisms. The quantitative response within each IgG subclass varies with the nature of the antigen, its route of entry and, presumably, the form in which it is presented to the immune system. This results in antibody responses to certain antigens being predominantly or exclusively of a single IgG subclass. An inability to produce antibody of the optimally protective isotype can result in a selective immunodeficiency state. This is particularly apparent for responses to certain bacterial carbohydrate antigens that are normally of IgG2 isotype. A failure to produce the appropriate specific antibody response may result in recurrent upper and/or lower respiratory tract infection. Careful patient investigation can identify such deficiencies and suggest appropriate clinical management. In this review we outline the biology and clinical relevance of the IgG subclasses and summarize current rational treatment approaches.