Allergic reactions to antibiotics are more common in cystic fibrosis (CF) than in the general population. This in part is due to the improving survival in adults with CF and the increased use of high dose intravenous antibiotics. While some are immediate anaphylaxis type (IgE mediated) reactions, the majority are late onset and may have non-specific features such as rash and fever. Piperacillin...

BACKGROUND The acquisition of Pseudomonas cepacia in patients with cystic fibrosis is associated with increasing deterioration in lung function and more frequent hospital admissions. Pseudomonas cepacia is usually resistant to several antibiotics in vitro, but the response of patients colonised with the organism has not been extensively studied in vivo. METHODS A three month prospective study...

Hyperemesis gravidarum can cause various vitamin deficiencies. Vitamin K deficiency can lead to coagulopathy or hemorrhagic diathesis. A nulliparous Japanese woman with hyperemesis gravidarum at 10(5/7) weeks was admitted with giant myoma, intestinal obstruction, and abdominal pain. Treatment for a degenerative myoma was instituted with intravenous antibiotics. The abdominal pain ameliorated, b...

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (previously named Xanthomonas maltophilia) is an aerobic, non-fermentive, Gram-negative bacillus that is wide spread in the environment. It was considered to be an organism with limited pathogenic potential, which was rarely capable of causing diseases in human other than those who were in debilitated or immunocompromised state. More recent studies have established ...

BACKGROUND The Multicenter Osteopathic Pneumonia Study in the Elderly (MOPSE) is a registered, double-blinded, randomized, controlled trial designed to assess the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) as an adjunctive treatment in elderly patients with pneumonia. METHODS 406 subjects aged >/= 50 years hospitalized with pneumonia at 7 community hospitals were randomized using co...

OBJECTIVE Inpatient management remains the standard of care for treatment of febrile neutropenia (FN) in children with cancer. Clinical data suggest, however, that outpatient management might be a safe and efficacious alternative for patients with low-risk FN episodes. METHODS A cost-utility model was created to compare 4 treatment strategies for low-risk FN. The base case considered pediatri...

INTRODUCTION Polymicrobial endocarditis is a well-recognized problem in intravenous drug users and it accounts for 1 to 3% of endocarditis cases overall and up to 9% in other series. The most common combinations of organisms include Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Candida parapsilosis endocarditis carries a mortali...

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE Early reports suggest that the use of steroids after Kasai portoenterostomy may improve bile flow and outcome in infants with biliary atresia. METHODS Of 28 infants with biliary atresia, half received adjuvant high-dose steroids, and half received standard therapy. Infants in the steroid group (n = 14) received intravenous solumedrol (taper of 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 mg/kg/d),...

The outlook for people with cystic fibrosis has improved steadily since the first descripition of the disease in the late 1930s. A major reason for the improved prognosis has been the availability and effective use of antibiotics to delay the onset, and slow the progress, of the inevitable bronchopulmonary bacterial colonisation and infection that will eventually prove fatal. During the 1970s a...