In high-risk patients, prophylactic inhalation of liposomal amphotericin B significantly reduced the incidence of IPA.

IntroductionGuidelines recommend that two blood cultures be performed in patients with febrile urinary tract infection (UTI), to detect bacteremia and help diagnose urosepsis. The usefulness and cost-effectiveness of this practice have been criticized. This study aimed to evaluate clinical characteristics and the biomarker procalcitonin (PCT) as an aid in predicting bacteremia.MethodsA prospective observational multicenter cohort study included consecutive adults with febrile UTI in 35 primary care units and 8 emergency departments of 7 regional hospitals. Clinical and microbiological data were collected and PCT and time to positivity (TTP) of blood culture were measured.ResultsOf 581 evaluable patients, 136 (23%) had bacteremia. The median age was 66 years (interquartile range 46 to 78 years) and 219 (38%) were male. We evaluated three different models: a clinical model including seven bed-side characteristics, the clinical model plus PCT, and a PCT only model. The diagnostic abilities of these models as reflected by area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic were 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66 to 0.76), 0.79 (95% CI: 0.75 to 0.83) and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.68 to 0.77) respectively. Calculating corresponding sensitivity and specificity for the presence of bacteremia after each step of adding a significant predictor in the model yielded that the PCT > 0.25 μg/l only model had the best diagnostic performance (sensitivity 0.95; 95% CI: 0.89 to 0.98, specificity 0.50; 95% CI: 0.46 to 0.55). Using PCT as a single decision tool, this would result in 40% fewer blood cultures being taken, while still identifying 94 to 99% of patients with bacteremia.The TTP of E. coli positive blood cultures was linearly correlated with the PCT log value; the higher the PCT the shorter the TTP (R2 = 0.278, P = 0.007).ConclusionsPCT accurately predicts the presence of bacteremia and bacterial load in patients with febrile UTI. This may be a helpful biomarker to limit use of blood culture resources.

Summary. We determined the value of galactomannan (GM) detection in computerized tomography (CT)-based broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and serum for the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in haemato-oncological patients with neutropenia. CT of the thorax and BAL were performed systematically at predefined clinical indications. GM was determined by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; the clinicians were unaware of the results. Of 160 patients, 17 patients (10AE6%) presented with proven, probable or suspected IPA. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of GM detection in CT-based BAL fluid were all 100%. For GM detection in serially sampled serum, the sensitivity was 47%, the specificity 93%, the PPV 73% and the NPV 82%. A non-blinded follow-up study was performed to validate these results. In this study, 22 of 198 patients (11AE1%) presented with IPA, and the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of GM detection in CT-based BAL fluid were 85%, 100%, 100% and 88% respectively. None of BAL fluids obtained after antifungal treatment of 3 d or more were positive. These results indicate that, when CT is used systematically and at an early stage, GM detection in CT-based BAL fluid has a high PPV for diagnosing IPA early in untreated patients.

Recent hospitalization, urinary catheter and fluoroquinolone use in the past 6 months were independent risk factors for fluoroquinolone resistance in community-onset febrile E. coli UTI. Contact with animals or hospitalized household members was not associated with fluoroquinolone resistance. Fluoroquinolone resistance may be a marker of broader resistance, including ESBL positivity.

Two diagnostic tests, an Aspergillus-specific PCR and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the quantitative determination of galactomannan, were compared for diagnosing and monitoring invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Persistently neutropenic rats with left-sided invasive pulmonary aspergillosis were sacrificed at regular intervals after inoculation. Blood samples and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid were cultured and tested by PCR as well as by ELISA. Disseminated fungal infection in extrapulmonary organs was determined. The sensitivity of the ELISA was higher than that of the PCR on all days of measurements, in both blood and BAL fluid. Positive PCR or ELISA results in blood were not significantly associated with disseminated fungal infection. Serial testing in a separate group of rats showed consistently increasing concentrations of circulating galactomannan during the course of disease, while a positive PCR could be followed by negative results. The concentration of galactomannan was highly predictive for the time of survival (P < 0.0001). It was concluded that, in this model, quantitative galactomannan detection is superior to PCR in diagnosing and monitoring invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.