ABSTRACT
Introduction Lactococcus garvieae, a zoonotic pathogen, may rarely infect humans through the consumption of fish. Documented manifestations of L. garvieae infection in humans include infective endocarditis, prosthetic joint infections, liver abscesses, peritoneal dialysis-associated peritonitis, osteomyelitis, meningitis, infective spondylodiscitis, acalculous cholecystitis, and urinary tract infection. Case report An 87-year-old female was hospitalized for coffee-ground emesis secondary to acute gastritis after eating cooked fish. One week after her discharge, she developed new-onset confusion and was returned to the hospital. Chest computed tomography revealed total consolidation of the left lung and a multiloculated left pleural effusion. The patient required intubation and direct admission to the intensive care unit. Pleural fluid and blood cultures grew L. garvieae, which was susceptible to ceftriaxone, penicillin, and vancomycin. Despite intensive antibiotic therapy and supportive care for thirteen days, the patient remained in irreversibl e shock, and the family opted for comfort care. Conclusions Heretofore unreported, this case demonstrates that L. garvieae can cause bronchopneumonia and empyema. Copyright © GERMS 2022.
ABSTRACT
Objective. International studies have found an increased risk of puerperal depression during COVID-19 pandemic. The present research aims to investigate the risk of puerperal depression within the obstetrics ward of Ospedale dell’Angelo (Venice Mestre), between March and June, 2020. Patients and Methods. 98 new mothers (average age: 33 y/o, SD: 5) were asked to complete the 10 item version of the EPDS, 2-3 days after delivery and again 3 months later. Results. The percentage of women with high score is 26.5%, less than what was found in 2016. The risk of puerperal depression does not change significantly 3 months after delivery. However, high scores on EPDS do not seem to be connected either to the type of birth or to the condition of primiparity of the mothers. Conclusions. Some hypotheses have been proposed to explain the results obtained, such as quality of the assistance offered and/or the compliance and the coping skills acquired by families, which could be evaluated in future research. © 2022, EDRA S.p.A. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Prompt recognition of COVID-19 prognosis could improve the care of inpatients admitted to Internal Medicine wards. Aim. To evaluate the impact of serum biomarkers at admission on COVID-19 prognosis. Methods: Two hundred eighteen COVID-19 patients referred to the Internal Medicine Baccelli, University of Bari were consecutively analyzed (September 2020 - June 2021) in a retrospective, monocentric study. A complete medical history, physical examination, blood count, renal function, inflammatory biomarkers, and total serum calcium were obtained. Results: Low serum calcium was found on average (8.4 mg/dl) but it normalized after correction for albuminemia (8.9 mg/dL). Patients transferred to the intensive care unit showed a statistically significant lower serum calcium (8.1 vs 8.4 mg/dL, p<0.01) compared to those not transferred to the intensive care even if relation vanished after albumin correction. Older age (81 vs 63y, p <0.001), higher C reactive protein (114 vs 38.5 mg/dL, p <0.001), d-dimer (2543 vs 641 ng/mL, p <0.001), lactic dehydrogenase (301 vs 236 UI/L, p <0.001), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (9.9 vs 4.5, p <0.001), interleukin- 6 (118 vs 21.6 pg/mL, p <0.001), creatinine (1.17 vs 0.88 mg/dL, p <0.001), and corrected calcium (9.2 vs 8.4 mg/dL, p<0.001) predicted death. Conclusions: Low total serum calcium might anticipate patients' transfer to the intensive care unit. This phenomenon may be driven by hypoalbuminemia. Advanced age, higher inflammatory biomarkers and creatinine, and higher serum calcium corrected for albumin may predict death.