BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis showed an increase in the 1990s compared to the 1980s. In order to characterize the clinical and laboratory features of S. aureus endocarditis, we retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of patients diagnosed with endocarditis in the 5-year-period between 2000 and 2005. METHODS From August 2000 to August 2005, 22 patients with a de...

BACKGROUND Pneumonia remain an important public health problem. The primary objective was to determine the proportion of community-acquired pneumonia that is attributable to Streptococcus pneumoniae infection; secondary objectives were the description of community-acquired pneumonia attributable to Streptococcus pneumoniae according to socio-demographic and clinical variables, the clinical evol...

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in elderly patients, and is associated with a considerable economic burden on the healthcare system. The combination of high incidence and substantial financial costs necessitate accurate diagnosis and appropriate management of patients admitted with CAP. This article will discuss the rates of adh...

During the six-year period from 1995 to 2000, 23 cases of melioidosis were diagnosed from the Torres Strait islands that lie between northern Queensland and Papua New Guinea. This represents an average annual incidence of 42.7 per 100,000 population, the highest documented to date in this region. This probably reflects the extremely high prevalence of diabetes, the high seasonal rainfall in the...

Severity scales in communityacquired pneumonia: what matters apart from death? Chalmers et al and Loke et al present excellent meta-analyses of the value of various tools in predicting mortality from community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). There is a continuing fallacious belief, however, that only patients at high risk of death are at high risk of complications. Of the 47 studies identified by Cha...

The Dutch Working Party on Antibiotic Policy (SWAB) develops evidence-based guidelines, aimed at optimalisation of antibiotic use and limitation of the spread of antimicrobial resistance. A revision of the SWAB guideline for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), published in 1998, was considered necessary because of changes in resistance patterns and new insights into the epidemi...

monia. Chest 2003; 124:1798–1804 2 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Medicare National Pneumonia Quality Improvement Project. Available at: http://www.nationalpneumonia.org. Accessed June 15, 2004 3 Meehan TP, Fine MJ, Krumholz HM, et al. Quality of care, process, and outcomes in elderly patients with pneumonia. JAMA 1997; 278:2080–2084 4 Bratzler DW, Houck PM, Nsa W, et al. Initi...

We report a case of bilateral apical lung bullae that collapsed following an episode of community-acquired pneumonia with bilateral air fluid levels. With standard treatment for community-acquired pneumonia, management of a patient that may have qualified for bullectomy, (as in our case) showed complete resolution of all pathology without surgical intervention. Conservative management took prec...

BACKGROUND We compared regional coverage rates of influenza vaccination (composition in 1999/00 was A/Sydney-like A/Beijing-like B/Yamanashi-like and in 2000/01 was A/Moscow A/New Caledonia B/Beijing) to the rates, cost, and mortality for community-acquired pneumonia. METHODS We used the Pearson's correlation coefficient to establish linear associations between variables derived from Alberta ...

Guidelines have been developed to improve the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) but information regarding their influence on costs is lacking. The aim of the present study was to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of CAP treatment from the hospital perspective when adhering to Spanish guidelines. A prospective cohort study was performed in 271 patients with CAP admitted to a te...