Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in patients without HIV infection.

BACKGROUND: Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) can occur in immunocompromised patients without HIV infection. Risk factors, clinical features, treatment outcomes, and factors related to mortality in these patients may be useful clinical data for physicians who care for these patients. METHOD: A retrospective study of PCP patients without HIV infection at Ramathibodi Hospital, from 1994 to 2001, was conducted. Only cases with microbiological and/or pathological proven were included. RESULTS: There were 19 patients with 42.1 per cent males and a mean age of 44.6 years. All patients had underlying immunocompromised diseases. 94.7 per cent of the cases received immunosuppressive drugs. PCP occurred at a mean duration of 26.4 months after the diagnosis and treatment of underlying diseases. Common clinical presentations of PCP were progressive dyspnea, fever, and non-productive cough. All patients had abnormal chest radiography with a majority of bilateral interstitial infiltration (63.2%). Diagnosis of PCP was confirmed with microbiological examination from bronchoalveolar larvage (84.2%) and pathological diagnosis from transbronchial biopsy (15.8%). Almost all of the cases (94.7%) were treated with co-trimoxazole. Ten patients (52.6%) had concomitant bacterial pneumonia or fungal pneumonitis. Overall mortality rate was 36.8 per cent. Mortality was significantly higher in patients who needed mechanical ventilation (p = 0.006). There was a trend toward a higher mortality rate in patients with concomitant pulmonary diseases (p = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS: PCP may complicate a variety of immunocompromised states especially autoimmune diseases and hematologic malignancy. Patients who receive corticosteroids and/or cytotoxic drugs should receive primary PCP prophylaxis. The mortality rate is high especially in severe cases that need mechanical ventilation. Intensive care and close monitoring are needed for these patients.

Clinical presentation and medical complication in 59 cases of laboratory-confirmed leptospirosis in Bangkok.

We reviewed the laboratory-confirmed cases of leptospirosis in Ramathibodi Hospital, a medical-school hospital in Bangkok, to assess the documented cases of leptospirosis in Bangkok and the medical complications of severe cases. There were 59 cases from January 1994 to December 2000. More than half of the cases were Bangkok residents and did not travel outside Bangkok in the preceding 2 weeks. The majority of the cases presented in late rainy season. The clinical presentation, laboratory findings, medical complication, treatment and outcome are given. Leptospirosis in the urban area is common and should be recognized, particularly in rainy season.

Spontaneous cryptococcal peritonitis in cirrhotic patients.

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is a common complication in patients with cirrhosis and ascites. However, spontaneous peritonitis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans is uncommon. Delayed diagnosis of cryptococcal peritonitis often results in death. We describe three cases of spontaneous cryptococcal peritonitis in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. One case had associated symptomatic human immunodeficiency virus infection. Clinical awareness of this entity may lead to the early diagnosis and proper treatment.

Burkholderia pseudomallei: abscess in an unusual site.

Melioidosis is an infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei. It is an important human pathogen in tropical area. The clinical manifestations are protean and multisystem involvement. We report an unusual case of melioidosis with abscess at root of mesentery in an elderly, non-insulin dependent diabetic Thai women. She presented with prolonged fever and chronic abdominal pain. The early clinical diagnosis was carcinomatous mass with peritonitis. Diagnosis of melioidosis arose from the surgical finding and pus culture. Treatment with surgical drainage and ceftazidime followed by co-trimoxazole plus doxycycline had a good clinical outcome.

Treatment of invasive fungal sinusitis with liposomal amphotericin B: a report of four cases.

Invasive fungal sinusitis increasingly causes significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. It is difficult to treat. Despite standard treatment by surgical debridement and intravenous amphotericin B, morbidity and mortality remain high. Conventional amphotericin B is the standard drug but its use is limited by dose-related nephrotoxicity and infusion-related acute toxicity. Liposomal amphotericin B has proven to be as effective as conventional amphotericin B with less nephrotoxicity and infusion reaction. We report four cases of invasive fungal sinusitis who were treated with liposomal amphotericin B after having severe side effects from conventional amphotericin B. There were two cases of mucormycosis and two cases of aspergillosis. All patients had diabetes millitus. One patient had systemic lupus erythematosus and another was receiving immunosuppressive drugs after kidney transplantation. All cases needed multiple operations for sinus surgery. Two cases had acute reaction to amphotericin B infusion, one had active lupus nephritis with renal insufficiency, and one was considered treatment failure from amphotericin B. The patients received liposomal amphotericin B at the total doses of 4.55-8.85 g. Two cases of mucormycosis were considered to be successfully treated. In cases of aspergillosis, one was considered improved and another one with immunocompromised status died with active disease. From our experience, surgery is the main treatment for patients with invasive fungal sinusitis and liposomal amphotericin B is an effective alternative drug for adjuvant medical treatment. However, the degree of immunosuppression of the patients, the extension of fungal sinusitis and perhaps the species of fungus are important factors determining the clinical response.

Preliminary report for the application of nucleic acid sequence-based amplification in detection of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) late pp67 mRNA for diagnosis of HCMV infection.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) late pp67 mRNA expression by nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) in patients, clinically diagnosed as possible HCMV, probable HCMV disease, and no disease, was evaluated. The RNAs were isolated from 11 whole-blood samples of 11 patients for the specific amplification of the pp67 mRNA. NASBA results were compared to results from PCR assay and serological assay. The HCMV pp67 mRNA could be found in 3 of 11 patients, whereas, HCMV-DNA PCR was positive in 6 of 11 patients. PCR assay for HCMV-DNA in plasma has proved to correlate with clinical diagnosis of HCMV infection. Only 2 patient samples of NASBA positive results coincided with HCMV-DNA PCR. However, the diagnosis of clinically relevant HCMV infection by NASBA was seen. Anti-CMV IgG titers of 1:1,600 or over 1:1,600 were found in 2 of 3 NASBA positive cases and 5 of 6 HCMV-DNA positive cases, whereas, anti-CMV IgM were all negative. These results showed the correlation of HCMV infection detected by NASBA, PCR assay and anti-CMV IgG of the titers up to 1:1,600. Additionally, a low antibody titer of the HIV patient could be diagnosed by NASBA or PCR. In conclusion, pp67 mRNA NASBA appears to be a promising diagnostic tool in analysis of HCMV infection and/or disease. Its diagnostic value should be defined in the specific group for the follow-up of immunocompromised patients, such as organ transplant recipients in future prospective studies.