Most physicians believe that diabetic individuals are predisposed to infections and that infection complicates the control of the diabetes. However, only bacteriuria can be documented to occur with increased frequency in diabetic compared with nondiabetic patients. Although most bacteriuric diabetic patients are asymptomatic, severe infections such as emphysematous pyelonephritis, papillary necrosis, perinephric abscess, and candida pyelonephritis may occur. Tuberculosis, once a proven threat to diabetic individuals, is a less serious problem now that effective screening and chemoprophylaxis programs have been initiated. Several unusual infections such as malignant external otitis, rhinocerebral mucormycosis, emphysematous pyelonephritis, and emphysematous cholecystitis occur also exclusively in diabetics. Foot infections are very important in diabetic patients; successful treatment requires accurate assessment of the extent and etiology of the infections and often involves surgery as well as broad antibiotic coverage. The important problem of infection in diabetic patients deserves careful evaluation. Questions such as do diabetic individuals have a higher incidence of infection, why are diabetic patients predisposed to infection, why is necrosis common in several of the infections, what is the course of asymptomatic bacteriuria, who do diabetic patients develop foot infections, and how should foot infections be prevented and treated should be topics of clinical investigation.
Questions have arisen regarding the risk of developing symptomatic Histoplasma capsulatum infection among patients who undergo transplant-related immunosuppression in areas endemic for histoplasmosis. Our medical center is located in a hyperendemic area for histoplasmosis, where three large outbreaks occurred since 1978. We undertook a retrospective chart review of 137 patients who received allogeneic bone marrow transplant and of 449 patients who received solid organ transplant from January 1994 to December 1996 in order to assess the incidence of active histoplasmosis. Charts were reviewed before and after transplantation for clinical outcomes, H. capsulatum serologies and antigen results, and microbiological and radiological results. After a mean follow-up duration exceeding 16 months, no patient was diagnosed with histoplasmosis. In the absence of an outbreak, histoplasmosis is a rare infection following the immunosuppression of allogeneic bone marrow or solid organ transplantation even in a hyperendemic area. Pre-transplant serologies or chest radiographs consistent with prior infection were not associated with post-transplant histoplasmosis.
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