PEGHIN M.

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a serious opportunistic infection, which has increasingly been recognized as an emerging disease of non-neutropenic patients. In this group of patients, the diagnosis of IA can be challenging owing to the lack of specificity of symptoms, the difficulty in discriminating colonization from infection, and the lower...

Introduction: The isolation of multi-drug-resistant gram-negative (MDRGN) pathogens has progressively increased worldwide and has been associated with important delays in the prescription of an adequate antibiotic treatment, resulting in increased mortality rates. Patient's stratification for MDRGN infections to optimize the prescription of an...

Purpose of review Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Enterobacteriaceae are often related to the production of extended-spectrum blactamases (ESBLs) and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), and represent an increasing global threat. Recommendations for the therapeutic management of MDR-related infections, however, are mainly derived from...

The epidemiology of Candida species infection has changed over recent decades, influenced by local hospital-related factors, patient predisposing conditions and type of antifungal agents administered. A shift from Candida albicans as the predominant pathogen towards an increasing prevalence of the species Candida glabrata and Candida...

The management of difficult-to-treat acute and chronic respiratory infections (infections in cystic fibrosis, non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, immunocompromised and mechanically ventilated patients) and difficult-to-treat pathogens (including multidrug-resistant strains) has become a challenge in clinical practice. The arsenal of...

Purpose of review The increase of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) represents a major concern both in community and in the hospital setting. Staphylococcus aureus is the most frequently isolated pathogen, and the rise in infections due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been associated with inadequate antibiotic...

Introduction: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections represent a leading cause of infection-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. There has been a welcome increase in the number of agents available for the treatment of MRSA infection over the last decade and several clinical trials are currently investigating the...

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance poses a substantial threat to global public health since it decreases the probability of effectively treating an infection and increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Areas covered: In this review, the authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of classical and novel trial designs for...

Introduction: Acute bacterial skin and skin-structure infections (ABSSSI) may develop in both in-patients and out-patients, possibly with a severe clinical presentation. Since most phase 3 randomized clinical trials have shown non-inferiority in efficacy across different agents, considerations regarding their different safety profiles...

Purpose of review Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria represents a global emerging problem. Delayed prescription of an adequate treatment for VAP has been associated with higher morbidity and mortality. New molecules have been developed to face the need of compounds that are active against...

Purpose of review Skin and soft tissue infections prevalence is increasing and represent a frequent cause of hospital admission. New guidelines have become available in order to better define these infections and their response to antimicrobial treatment. Gram-positive bacteria, in particular Staphylococcus aureus, remain the most frequently...

Introduction: Previous series on the use of daptomycin in enterococcal infective endocarditis (EIE) have shown various outcomes, including higher mortality rates. We analyzed the effectiveness of high-dose daptomycin for the treatment of EIE. Methods: We performed a prospective study from 2010 to 2018 in a referral center in patients with...

Purpose: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a severe infection, and a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Due to its favourable microbiological and pharmacological characteristics, daptomycin is routinely used in clinical practice for treating IE.Methods: A prospective study was conducted at a large tertiary-care hospital in Italy over an...

Purpose of review Describe the risk factors and discuss the management of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria responsible for pneumonia among critically ill patients, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobactericeae, carbapenem-resistant Enterobactericeae, multidrug resistant...

We report the case of a 68-year-old immunocompetent patient with a dilatation of the ascending aorta, intraluminal vegetations, and pseudoaneurysmatic bulging who presented with unilateral fungal endogenous endophthalmitis 8 days after coronary angiogram. The isolated pathogen resulted to be Magnusiomyces capitatus, a filamentous, yeast-like...

Background: Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) represent a global issue and affect various patient populations. In recent years, resistant fungal isolates showing increased azole or echinocandin MICs have been reported, and their potential clinical impact has been investigated. Aims: To provide an update on the epidemiology of resistance among...

Background: Ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) is a novel antibiotic with enhanced microbiological activity against multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteria, including MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Case report: Five months after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, a 49-year old man developed fever and blood culture was positive...

IIntroduction. Influenza is a matter of serious concern for clinicians, in both outpatient and in-hospital settings. Worldwide, the 2017-18 epidemic proved to be the most severe since 2003-04. We report a real-world experience regarding the management of patients with influenza admitted to a large teaching hospital in the Friuli Venezia Giulia...

The Fungal Infections Definitions in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients (FUNDICU) project aims to provide standard sets of definitions for invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) in critically ill, adult patients, including invasive aspergillosis (IA), invasive candidiasis (IC), Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP), and other non-IA, non-IC IFDs. The...

Objectives: To evaluate scoring systems that have been created to predict the risk of death post-surgery in infective endocarditis (IE). Design: Eight scores–(1) The Society of Thoracic Surgery (STS) risk score for IE, (2) De Feo score, (3) PALSUSE score (prosthetic valve, age ≥70, large intracardiac destruction, Staphylococcus spp, urgent...

This study describes the largest clinical experience using ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) for different Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. A retrospective study was performed at 22 hospitals in Italy (June 2016–March 2018). All adult patients treated with ≥4 days of C/T were enrolled. Successful clinical outcome was defined as complete resolution...

Objectives: bloodstream infections (BSI) due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii (AB) have been increasingly observed among hospitalized patients. Methods: prospective, observational study conducted among 12 large tertiary-care hospitals, across 7 Italian regions. From June 2017 to June 2018 all consecutive hospitalized...