A preemptive approach may reduce empirical antifungal use without compromising survival in persistently febrile neutropenic patients.

The number of infections attributable to community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in Singapore is progressively increasing. Most cases in the past 2 years were caused by Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive isolates belonging to sequence type 30, according to multilocus sequence typing. This has clearly become the predominant sequence type among CA-MRSA isolates in Singapore.

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Despite advances in surveillance strategies and antivirals, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection continues to pose problems to patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCTs). The bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit at the Singapore General Hospital embraced the preemptive strategy in late 2003. Although several studies have demonstrated its usefulness, we conducted this review to document CMV-related events at our institution. Forty-six patients underwent CMV surveillance using the CMV pp65 antigenemia (CMV Ag) assay from January 2004 to December 2005. Twenty-seven patients had CMV infection, and 19 remained antigenemia-negative. No differences were found between the 2 groups for the following potential risk factors for CMV infection: age, total number of co-morbidities, duration of neutropenia after conditioning, baseline creatinine, type of conditioning regimen (conventional vs. reduced intensity), type of transplant (matched sibling vs. others), recipient CMV status, donor CMV status, and use of total body irradiation. Two patients received alemtuzumab; both developed CMV Ag. Twelve episodes of CMV infection occurred after the 100th post-HSCT day. Two patients developed CMV disease. One of them could be considered a failure of the preemptive strategy, as she had CMV gastritis diagnosed on the same day that she became pp65-positive. The other developed CMV disease despite prompt institution of ganciclovir, although she had multiple post-HSCT complications requiring enhanced immunosuppression, as well as relapsed disease. One-year disease-free survival was 55.5% in those with CMV infection and 52.3% in those without infection. Survival was not affected by CMV infection.

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Background: Invasive mould disease (IMD) after chemotherapy in patients with acute leukemia has traditionally caused much morbidity and mortality. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, matched case-control study of IMD in patients with acute leukemia managed in our institution from January 2004 to March 2007 to determine the incidence and clinical outcomes of IMD, including its impact on 1-year survival. Results: During this period, 172 patients with acute leukemia underwent chemotherapy with curative intent. A probable or proven IMD developed in 19 patients (cases), giving an incidence of 11%. Aspergillus was the commonest mould. Cases were more likely than controls to have prolonged neutropenia, fever that did not respond to carbapenems, a bacteremia and a longer length of stay. Three-month survival was 93.3% among both cases and controls, but one-year survival was 46.7% among cases and 93.3% among controls. Having an IMD appears to impart a higher risk of mortality at one year. Conclusion: The incidence of invasive mould disease in acute leukemia patients receiving chemotherapy is 11%. Absolute neutropenia more than 14 days is a risk factor for IMD. Itraconazole prophylaxis did not reduce the likelihood of an IMD and a change should be considered. Having an IMD appeared to predict mortality at 12 months.

Introduction: We sought to determine the opinions of patients, their visitors and healthcare workers regarding Influenza A (H1N1) response measures instituted within a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Materials and Methods: This questionnaire study was undertaken from 21 May 2009 to 31 August 2009. Results: There were 92 respondents, ranging in age from 15 to 77 years. Of the 90 who identified their role, 35.6% were patients, 12.2% visitors and 52.2% health care professionals. About 23% of respondents disagreed that one could have H1N1 without fever or flu-like symptoms, while 14.3% thought influenza could not be caught from an asymptomatic infected person. About 30% perceived the H1N1 death rate as high. From this study, 82.2% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Singapore’s H1N1 responses were essential, while 14.6% found it overdone. In particular, healthcare workers and doctors found their professional work to be inconvenienced. Although more than two-thirds of doctors held this view, an equal proportion agreed the outbreak response was essential. Conclusions: There was a high level of acceptance of response measures as essential, despite the perceived inconvenience. We propose that the success of containment measures requires unity of purpose and understanding among stakeholders at all levels. Key words: Infectious diseases, Pandemics, Public health