Bacteremia due to Fusobacterium spp. is unusual (<10% of cases of anaerobic bacteremia), and the isolation of Fusobacterium varium is especially uncommon. The most probable sources of Fusobacterium bacteremia are the respiratory, the gastrointestinal, and the genitourinary tracts. A.-M. Bourgault et al. (Clin. Infect. Dis. 25[Suppl. 2]:181-183) described 40 patients with Fusobacterium bacteremi...

We report an aggressive case of polymicrobial bacteremia in a patient with renal pelvis carcinoma. A 76-year-old man developed watery diarrhea after undergoing chemotherapy. He became unconscious and went into shock. Laboratory data showed severe neutropenia, renal failure, and lactic acidosis. Chest radiography showed multiple opacities. He died despite aggressive fluid resuscitation, catechol...

To assess the prevalence of skin and rectal colonization by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in hospitalized bacteremic patients and to determine the relation between colonization and bacteremia, we compared 14 case patients who had bacteremia due to VRE with 30 control patients who had bacteremia due to other pathogens. Rectal colonization and skin (inguinal area and/or antecubital fossa...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to report a case of C. difficile bacteremia in a Crohn's disease patient and to review the literature on previously reported cases. METHODS Searches of MEDLINE and PubMed databases were made. RESULTS We report the first case of C. difficile bacteremia in a Crohn's disease patient. There are 15 other reported cases of C. difficile bacteremia reported in...

INTRODUCTION An excessive risk for bacteremia has recently been reported in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) treated with intravenous treprostinil. We aimed to assess this association in a cohort of patients from a Spanish referral center. PATIENTS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study that included 55 patients diagnosed with PAH who received a continuous in...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Enterobacter spp. have emerged as an important cause of nosocomial bacteremia. The purpose of this study was to delineate the clinical, laboratory and microbiologic features that may influence prognosis of Enterobacter cloacae and enable a stratification of those patients at high risk of mortality. METHODS This retrospective study reviewed 108 episodes of E. cloacae bac...

A meta-analysis was performed to summarize the impact of methicillin-resistance on mortality in Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. A search of the MEDLINE database for studies published during the period of 1 January 1980 through 31 December 2000 and a bibliographic review identified English-language studies of S. aureus bacteremia. Studies were included if they contained the numbers of and mort...

PURPOSE Procalcitonin (PCT) is a current, frequently used marker for severe bacterial infection. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of PCT levels to differentiate bacteremic from nonbacteremic patients with fever. We assessed whether PCT level could be used to accurately rule out a diagnosis of bacteremia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Serum samples and blood culture were obtained from p...

To characterize changes in serum cytokine levels in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected persons with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) bacteremia, the levels of IL-1alpha (interleukin-1alpha), IL-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), soluble type II TNF receptor (sTNF-RII), and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) in serum were measured in two cohorts of HIV-...

BACKGROUND Comparison of mortality among patients with positive and negative blood cultures may indicate the contribution of bacteremia to mortality. This study (1) compared mortality among patients with community-acquired bacteremia with mortality among patients with negative blood cultures and (2) determined the effects of bacteremia type and comorbidity level on mortality among patients with...