Antimicrobial stewardship in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections

Antimicrobial Stewardship in Hospitalized Patients with Respiratory Infections: Ten-Year Experience from the Robley Rex Louisville VA Medical Center

“…The results of this study demonstrate that recommendations from an AST regarding antibiotic use for respiratory infections improve compliance with hospital guidelines. This is consistent with other studies that have demonstrated improvement in antibiotic use after intervention from an ASP for other types of infection such as skin and soft tissue infections [7,8]. However, while our study demonstrated improved compliance with hospital guidelines after AST recommendations each year, the data did not demonstrate an overall improvement in antibiotic use before recommendations over time as one may expect with continuous audit and feedback.…”

Epidemiology and Microbiology of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections: Preliminary Results of a National Registry

“…1,12,13 Several authors have already published investigations on clinical presentation and microbiological assessment of SSTIs but they often limited their study population to restricted types of patients such as hospitalized patients, for example, 14,15 or to restricted diagnosis, such as complicated SSTIs. [14][15][16] Here, we report the preliminary results of a nationwide surveillance programme including all categories of SSTIs and patients deserving consultation with an infectious diseases specialist either in the clinic, or in the ward or in the emergency room (from the common and uncomplicated folliculitis in otherwise healthy patients to the severe necrotizing infection in critically ill patients), through the use of an electronic registry designed and tailored to collect a wide range of information. Although many SSTIs are managed by other specialists than ID specialists in surgical and clinical wards, we did not include in our analysis the cases from other wards than ID units and we focussed our observation on all the cases, independently from their severity, that came to the attention of the ID specialists joining the study.…”

Evaluation of the healing progress of phlegmon related to type 2 diabetes treated with the local hyperbaric oxygen therapy

“…People suffering from diabetes are particularly prone to develop this disease. The body areas which are especially exposed to skin lesions and development of phlegmon related to it include upper and lower limbs, particularly hands/ palms and feet [9,10].…”

“…At present, in the initial stage of phlegmon development the therapy involves the application of cold compresses made of 30-per cent isopropyl alcohol, whereas in case of more advanced inflammatory condition guided antibiotic therapy is applied along with anti-inflammatory and antioedematous drugs. Sometimes a surgical intervention is also necessary [9].…”

“…The diagnosis of phlegmon requires undertaking the treatment immediately, as failure to do so or delaying the treatment poses a threat to the patient's life. The inflammatory condition may extend to tissues located deeper in the body, eventually leading to the blood infection, and -as a consequence -to the inflammation of kidneys, lungs, or heart [9,10].…”