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BackgroundDevice-associated healthcare-acquired infections (DA-HAI) pose a threat to patient safety, particularly in the intensive care unit (ICU). We report the results of the International Infection Control Consortium (INICC) study conducted in Turkey from August 2003 through October 2012.MethodsA DA-HAI surveillance study in 63 adult, paediatric ICUs and neonatal ICUs (NICUs) from 29 hospitals, in 19 cities using the methods and definitions of the U.S. NHSN and INICC methods.ResultsWe collected prospective data from 94,498 ICU patients for 647,316 bed days. Pooled DA-HAI rates for adult and paediatric ICUs were 11.1 central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) per 1000 central line (CL)-days, 21.4 ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAPs) per 1000 mechanical ventilator (MV)-days and 7.5 catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) per 1000 urinary catheter-days. Pooled DA-HAI rates for NICUs were 30 CLABSIs per 1000 CL-days, and 15.8 VAPs per 1000 MV-days. Extra length of stay (LOS) in adult and paediatric ICUs was 19.4 for CLABSI, 8.7 for VAP and 10.1 for CAUTI. Extra LOS in NICUs was 13.1 for patients with CLABSI and 16.2 for patients with VAP. Extra crude mortality was 12% for CLABSI, 19.4% for VAP and 10.5% for CAUTI in ICUs, and 15.4% for CLABSI and 10.5% for VAP in NICUs. Pooled device use (DU) ratios for adult and paediatric ICUs were 0.54 for MV, 0.65 for CL and 0.88 for UC, and 0.12 for MV, and 0.09 for CL in NICUs. The CLABSI rate was 8.5 per 1,000 CL days in the Medical Surgical ICUs included in this study, which is higher than the INICC report rate of 4.9, and more than eight times higher than the NHSN rate of 0.9. Similarly, the VAP and CAUTI rates were higher compared with U.S. NHSN (22.3 vs. 1.1 for VAP; 7.9 vs. 1.2 for CAUTI) and with the INICC report (22.3 vs. 16.5 in VAP; 7.9 vs. 5.3 in CAUTI).ConclusionsDA-HAI rates and DU ratios in our ICUs were higher than those reported in the INICC global report and in the US NHSN report.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the temporal trends of HIV epidemiology in Turkey from 2011 to 2016. Method: Thirty-four teams from 28 centers at 17 different cities participated in this retrospective study. Participating centers were asked to complete a structured form containing questions about epidemiologic, demographic and clinical characteristics of patients presented with new HIV diagnosis between 2011 and 2016. Demographic data from all centers (complete or partial) were included in the analyses. For the cascade of care analysis, 15 centers that provided full data from 2011 to 2016 were included. Overall and annual distributions of the data were calculated as percentages and Chi square test was used to determine temporal changes. Results: A total of 2,953 patients between 2011 and 2016 were included. Overall male to female ratio was 5:1 with a significant increase in the number of male cases from 2011 to 2016 (p<0.001). The highest prevalence was among those aged 25-34 years followed by the 35-44 age bracket. Most common reason for HIV testing was illness (35%). While the frequency of sex among men who have sex with men increased from 16% to 30.6% (p<0.001) over the study period, heterosexual intercourse (53%) was found to be the most common transmission route. Overall, 29% of the cases presented with a CD4 count of >500 cells/mm3 while 46.7% presented with CD4 T cell count of <350 cells/mm3 . Among newly diagnosed cases, 79% were retained in care, and all such cases initiated ART with 73% achieving viral suppression after six months of antiretroviral therapy. Conclusion: The epidemiologic profile of HIV infected individuals is changing rapidly in Turkey with an increasing trend in the number of newly diagnosed people disclosing themselves as MSM. New diagnoses were mostly at young age. Late diagnosis was found to be challenging issue. Despite unavailability of data for the first 90, Turkey is close to the last two steps of 90-90-90 targets.

Ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAPs) are a worldwide problem that significantly increases patient morbidity, mortality, and length of stay (LoS), and their effects should be estimated to account for the timing of infection. The purpose of the study was to estimate extra LoS and mortality in an intensive-care unit (ICU) due to a VAP in a cohort of 69,248 admissions followed for 283,069 days in ICUs from 10 countries. Data were arranged according to the multi-state format. Extra LoS and increased risk of death were estimated independently in each country, and their results were combined using a random-effects meta-analysis. VAP prolonged LoS by an average of 2·03 days (95% CI 1·52-2·54 days), and increased the risk of death by 14% (95% CI 2-27). The increased risk of death due to VAP was explained by confounding with patient morbidity.

The aim of this study was to compare the results of nine non-invasive serum biomarkers with liver biopsies to predict liver fibrosis stage. HCV-RNA-positive, HCV genotype 1, treatment-naive patients with chronic HCV infections were included from 14 centers (n=77). The platelet count, AST/ALT ratio (AAR), cirrhosis discriminate score (CDS), FIB4, AST/platelet ratio index (APRI), age-platelet (AP) index, Göteborg University cirrhosis index (GUCI), FibroTest, and ActiTest were calculated and compared to histologic findings. All serum biomarkers, except AAR, were weakly or moderately correlated with liver biopsy results (ISHAK fibrosis score). The mean scores of FibroTest, FIB4, APRI, and AP index were significantly different between F0-F2 and F3-F4 groups and the negative predictive values (NPVs) of the F3-F4 group were 95%, 85%, 85%, and 83%, respectively, for these serum biomarkers. Our study suggests that serum biomarkers may help to diagnose significant fibrosis but inadequate to detect fibrosis in early stages. Although liver biopsy is still the gold standard to diagnose liver fibrosis, FibroTest, FIB4, APRI, or AP index may be used to exclude significant fibrosis with >80% NPV.

This retrospective study was performed in two university hospitals between January 2002 and 2006. Ninety-nine brucellosis patients were included in the study. These patients were classified as acute (91), chronic (4) and relapse (4) according to their clinical presentations and serological tests. Brucella bacteria were isolated in the blood of 17 (17.2%) cases. The most frequent symptom and clinical sign was fever. The osteoarticular complications were found in 17 patients (17.2%). Four of them were complicated with epidural abscess the same time. Two (2.2%) had meningitis, two (2.2%) had epididymoorchitis, three (3.3%) had skin rashes and one (1.1%) had hepatitis. Three of the acute brucellosis patients were pregnant. Rifampin and doxycycline combination therapy had been administered to most of the patients with acute and relapse brucellosis. However, complicated and chronic brucellosis cases were given different treatment combinations. This study reviews brucellosis therapy choices.