Sunday, November 04, 2012

 

Study to Look into Source of Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Infection

Study to Look into Source of Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Infection


Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are on rise and in order to know more about the same, three Dutch medical schools have started a new research. They have been asking a number of travelers to tropical countries to provide them with stool samples as they return from their trips.

The study has been carried out by the Academic (AMC), Maastricht medical and Erasmus centers. The study researchers have enrolled 2,000 travelers. Study researchers affirmed that they have been focusing on those travelers, who would be travelling to Asia and Africa.

Researcher Jarne van Hattem said, "These travelers will be asked, upon vaccination by a number of travel clinics, if they would like to participate and send stools to us for a year".

The Netherlands has been witnessing a number of incidents of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and that too among non-travelling groups. The research will help study researchers know that whether the infection is being passed on by travelers, who go to exotic locations.

The study will help them to come up with measures, which can be adopted to control these infections. Van Hattem said as per his knowledge, this study is one of the largest studies being carried out in Sweden and Australia.

Top News

Labels: , , , , , , ,


Saturday, October 17, 2009

 

Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: a major cause of mortality in Australia and New Zealand.

Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: a major cause of mortality in Australia and New Zealand.

Med J Aust. 2009 Oct 5

Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, SA, Australia. john.turnidge@health.sa.gov.au.

OBJECTIVE:

To document the types of, and mortality from, Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in Australia and New Zealand, and determine factors associated with mortality.

DESIGN AND SETTING:

Prospective observational study in 27 independent or hospital pathology laboratories in Australia (24) and New Zealand (3), employing a web-based database to prospectively record demographic features, selected risk factors, principal antibiotic treatment and mortality data on all patients with positive blood cultures for S. aureus from June 2007 to May 2008.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:

30-day all-cause mortality.

RESULTS:

1994 episodes of S. aureus bacteraemia were identified, and complete 30-day follow-up data were available for 1865. Most episodes had their onset in the community (60.8%; 95% CI, 58.7%-63.0%). Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) caused 450 episodes (24.1%; 95% CI, 22.2%-25.9%), and 123 of these (27.3%) had a susceptibility profile consistent with community-associated MRSA. All-cause mortality at 30 days was 20.6% (95% CI, 18.8%-22.5%). On univariate analysis, increased mortality was significantly associated with older age, European ethnicity, MRSA infection, infections not originating from a medical device, sepsis syndrome, pneumonia/empyema, and treatment with a glycopeptide or other non-beta-lactam antibiotic. On multivariable analysis, independent predictors of mortality were age, sepsis syndrome, pneumonia/empyema, device-associated infection with a secondary focus, left-sided endocarditis, and treatment with a glycopeptide such as vancomycin, but not MRSA infection.

CONCLUSIONS:

S. aureus bacteraemia is a common infection in both the community and hospitals in Australia and New Zealand, and is associated with appreciable mortality. Invasive MRSA infection may be more life-threatening, partly because of the inferior efficacy of the standard treatment, vancomycin. National web-based surveillance of S. aureus bacteraemia and its outcomes is not only important but also easily achievable.

eMedical Journal of Australia

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?