ABSTRACT
Aspergillus fumigatus is the causative agent of differents pathologies in the human being: aspergilloma, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, chronic necrotizing aspergillosis and invasive aspergillosis. In chronic necrotizing aspergillosis there is local invasion of the lung tissue and parenchyma destruction. Chronic necrotizing aspergillosis is different from invasive aspergillosis, because the abscence of vascular invasion or dissemination. Chronic necrotizing aspergillosis is seen in middle-aged and elderly with underlying lung diseases: COPD, tuberculosis sequelae, lung resection, pneumoconiosis, radiotherapy, lung infarction or sarcoidosis. Clinical manifestations are non specific, being the most usual fever, cough, sputum production and weight loss. Incidence of chronic necrotizing aspergillosis is unknown in Chile. Chronic necrotizing aspergillosis can produce death. It requires early diagnosis and treatment. In a patient with a predisposing disease and with prolonged fever and consuntive status, diagnosis of chronic necrotizing aspergillosis should be considered. We present a patient with chronic necrotizing aspergillosis attended at Instituto Nacional del Tórax (Thorax National Institute) in Santiago.
Aspergillus fumigatus puede causar diferentes patologías en el ser humano: aspergiloma, aspergilosis broncopulmonar alérgica, aspergilosis necrotizante crónica, aspergilosis invasora. En la aspergilosis necrotizante crónica hay invasión local del parénquima y destrucción. A diferencia de la aspergilosis invasora no invade vasos sanguíneos ni se disemina a otros órganos. La aspergilosis necrotizante crónica se presenta en pacientes de edad media o ancianos con patología pulmonar previa: EPOC, secuelas de tuberculosis, resección pulmonar, neumoconiosis, radioterapia, infarto pulmonar o sarcoidosis. La clínica es indolente e inespecífica, con fiebre, tos, expectoración y baja de peso. Se desconoce la incidencia de aspergilosis necrotizante crónica en nuestro medio. La aspergilosis necrotizante crónica es potencialmente fatal, por lo que requiere de un diagnóstico y tratamiento oportuno. Creemos que, debe considerarse esta entidad ante un cuadro consuntivo y febril prolongado, en pacientes con enfermedades predisponentes que producen una leve baja de la inmunidad. Describimos el caso de un paciente atendido en el Instituto Nacional del Tórax.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/complications , Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis/diagnosis , Radiography, Thoracic , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Chronic Disease , Itraconazole/therapeutic use , Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis/complications , Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis/drug therapy , Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis/diagnostic imaging , Antifungal Agents/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Loxoscelism, is caused by the bite of Loxosceles laeta spiders. It has two clinical forms: cutaneous loxoscelism (CL) and viscerocutaneous loxoscelism (VCL). VCL is characterized by hematuria, hemoglobinuria, jaundice, fever and sensorial involvement. In severes cases there is massive hemolysis and renal failure, with high letality. We report a 71 year-old man, brought to the hospital five days after suffering a spider bite. The patient was admitted with a severe kidney failure, hemolysis, metabolic acidosis and clotting disorder. The patient was managed with adrenal steroids and dialisys but died five weeks after hospital admission. This particualr patient consulted late and had multiple factors of poor prognosis.
Subject(s)
Male , Humans , Animals , Spider Bites/complications , Spiders , Spider Venoms/poisoning , Acute Kidney Injury , AgedABSTRACT
A progresive decrease of tuberculosis incidence has been shown in the last years in Chile. Presently Chile is considered as a country with a low incidence of tuberculosis (< 20 cases per 10(5) inhabitants). Miliary tuberculosis is an uncommon form of tuberculosis in immunocompetent patients. Miliary tuberculosis is tipically observed in immunocompromised patients. It is an infrequent cause of nosocomial fever. We report a case of miliary tuberculosis in an immunocompetent patient, that caused intrahospitalary fever, in the course of a long term hospitalization.
La tuberculosis ha disminuido su incidencia en los últimos años en Chile, siendo considerado actualmente como un país con baja incidencia de tuberculosis (< 20 casos por 10(5) habitantes). Dentro de las diferentes formas de presentación clínica de la tuberculosis, la diseminación miliar es rara en pacientes inmunocompetentes, estando restringida prácticamente a determinados grupos de riesgo. Más excepcional aún es considerar a la tuberculosis miliar como causa de fiebre intrahospitalaria. Comunicamos un caso de tuberculosis miliar en un paciente inmunocompetente, como causa de fiebre nosocomial, durante una hospitalización prolongada.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Tuberculosis, Miliary/complications , Fever of Unknown Origin/etiology , Tuberculosis, Miliary/diagnosis , Tuberculosis, Miliary/drug therapy , Hospitalization , ImmunocompetenceABSTRACT
Pseudomonas aeruginosa es un patógeno nosocomial frecuente que presenta elevada resistencia a los antimicrobianos y causa infecciones graves cuando hay alteración de los mecanismos defensivos del paciente. Así, conocer los patrones locales de sensibilidad es importante para la elección del tratamiento antimicrobiano adecuado en cada institución. En este trabajo determinamos la susceptibilidad antimicrobiana de cepas de P. aeruginosa aisladas desde pacientes atendidos en el Hospital Regional de Antofagasta. La mayoría de los pacientes tenía alguna condición predisponente a la infección y 48% tenía una infección grave. Las cepas mostraron mayor resistencia a los antimicrobianos que lo reportado en trabajos nacionales previos. Las cepas fueron altamente resistentes a amikacina (36,8%), ceftazidima (36,8%) y ciprofloxacina (68,4%), moderadamente resistentes a imipenem (26,3%), mientras que eran escasamente resistentes a piperacilina/tazobactam (5,3%) y cefoperazona/sulbactam (15,8%), Este es el primer trabajo, realizado en nuestra región, que estudia la susceptibilidad de P. aeruginosa frente a distintos grupos de antimicrobianos utilizados en clínica.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a nosocomial pathogen that often displays a high degree of antibiotic resistance. This pathogen causes also serious infections specially in patients with severe diseases or immunodeficiency. To offer the best treatment in every institution it is necessary to know the local pattern of antimicrobial susceptibility, then we studied the antibiotic susceptibility of P. aeruginosa strains isolated from patients attended in the Regional Hospital of Antofagasta. Most of them had an underlying disease that predisposed them to the infection and 48% had a severe infection. The strains showed higher drug resistance than that reported by other chilean researchers. P. aeruginosa displayed high resistance to amikacin (36,8%), ceftazidime (36,8%) and ciprofloxacin (68,4%) intermediate resistance to imipenem (26,3%), but low resistance to piperacillin/tazobactam (5,3%) and cefoperazone/sulbactam (15,8%). This is the first drug susceptibility study conducted in the Second Region of Chile, where P. aeruginosa was assayed against those antibiotics used in the clinical practice.