Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus spondylodiscitis.

Campylobacter spp. are common causes of gastrointestinal infections. Campylobacter fetus is a much rarer pathogen in humans, and usually causes bacteraemia and systemic complications in patients with predisposing conditions. We report a case of spondylodiscitis caused by C. fetus subsp. fetus as revealed by vertebral biopsy culture. This identification was confirmed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene and by phylogenetic analysis. Treatment consisted of 6 weeks antimicrobial therapy combined with a strict initial immobilization, followed by a re-education program. The patient's recovery was uneventful.

Effect of hydroxyapatite coating and polymethylmethacrylate on stainless steel implant-site infection with Staphylococcus epidermidis in a sheep model.

We aimed to study the influence of hydroxyapatite (HA) coating and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) cement on the risk of development of stainless steel implant-site infection with Staphylococcus epidermidis in a sheep model. Uncoated, HA-coated, and PMMA-cemented stainless steel implants were inserted in the left femur of 30 sheep. For each type of implant, sheep were inoculated with S. epidermidis in the intramedullary canal and one non-inoculated group was used as control. After 6 weeks, infection was evaluated using clinical, radiological, bacteriological, and histological criteria. Radiological and clinical results were normal. Cultures were negative in the control sheep. In the inoculated sheep, interposition tissue and bone cultures were positive in 2 of 6 uncoated, 6 of 6 HA, and 6 of 6 PMMA implants with a mean bacteria count of 5.2 +/- 1.17, 3.5 +/- 0.7, and 3.9 +/- 0.9 log10 cfu/g, respectively (NS), for interposition tissue, and 4 +/- 0.01, 2.9 +/- 0.6, and 2.5 +/- 1.3 log10 cfu/g, respectively (NS) for bone. The polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) score (mean number of PMN per 10 different microscopic high-power fields >or=5) in interposition tissue was >or=3 in 6 of 6 HA, significantly different from uncoated (3 of 6) and PMMA (2 of 6) groups (p = 0.04). The HA and PMMA inoculated groups had a higher infection rate than the uncoated inoculated group (p = 0.06). In this experimental sheep model of S. epidermidis infection at the bone-biomaterial interface, HA seems to be at higher risk of infection compared with uncoated or PMMA-cemented stainless steel, when inoculation is intramedullary and contemporary with implantation.

The effect of depressive symptoms at ART initiation on HIV clinical progression and mortality: implications in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: Depression is common in HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. However, longitudinal studies addressing the role that depression might play in HIV clinical progression and mortality remain rare. This is especially true for those studies that also consider the possible confounding influence of patient's adherence to treatment. METHODS: The ANRS CO-8 APROCO-COPILOTE cohort study enrolled 1,281 individuals at the initiation of a protease-inhibitor-containing regimen between 1997 and 1999. Adherence, depressive symptoms and other psychosocial factors were measured using self-administered questionnaires. Predictors of progression to AIDS or death were studied using Cox models. RESULTS: Out of 1,028 individuals eligible for the present analysis, 92 individuals either died or had an AIDS-defining event during a median follow up of 54 months. At baseline, 377 individuals (41%) reported depressive symptoms and 124 (12%) reported non-adherence at month 4. Depressive symptoms at baseline were associated with progression (hazard ratio [HR] 2.1; P = 0.001). Despite the association between depressive symptoms and nonadherence, depressive symptoms remained a predictor of clinical progression (adjusted HR [aHR] [95% confidence interval (CI)] 1.6 [1.0-2.5]) after adjustment for several factors: initial non-adherence (aHR [95% CI] 2.0 [1.1-3.6]), having a steady partner (aHR [95% CI] 0.5 [0.3-0.7]), older age (aHR [95% CI] 1.40 [1.12-1.74] per 10-year increment), HIV clinical stage C (aHR [95% CI] 2.5 [1.6-4.0]), plasma HIV RNA > or = 100,000 copies/ml (aHR [95% CI] 1.7 [1.1-2.87]) and more than 8 years since HIV diagnosis (aHR [95% CI] 1.8 [1.1-2.8]). CONCLUSION: Depressive symptoms and non-adherence are independent predictors of HIV clinical progression and mortality. Screening and appropriate treatment of depressive symptoms at antiretroviral treatment initiation should be included in the standard care of HIV-infected patients.

[Bone and joint prosthesis infections]. / Infections sur prothèse ostéo-articulaire.

Despite the advances made in the surgical management and the optimization of anti-infective treatments, bacterial infections on bone and joint prosthesis remain a diagnostic and especially therapeutic issue. Infections can be either early (postoperative) or late (hematogenous) acute infections, or late chronic infections. Typically, the diagnosis of hematogenous acute infections is usually easy to establish. However, diagnosing chronic infections is more complex and mostly requires complementary examinations. In any case, no element can indicate with certainty the existence of an infection, aside from the identification of germs in the samples, properly collected. Treatment combines one of the various surgical strategies (surgical scrub with prosthesis maintenance, 1- or 2-step prosthesis replacement, prosthesis removal without reimplantation or head-neck resection, therapeutic abstention) and an extended antibiotherapy. In any scenario, a close collaboration between physicians and surgeons is essential to stop the infectious process.

[Infectious spondylodiscitis]. / Spondylodiscites infectieuses.

Vertebral osteomyelitis (VO) is an infection of the intervertebral disc with a possible extension to adjacent vertebrae. Annual incidence of VO in France is 2.4/100,000 inhabitants. It increases with age, above 6/100,000 over 70 years old. Eighty percent are hematogenous, and 20% developed after spinal surgery. The main unspecific symptoms are inflammatory spine pain, associated or not with fever. Diagnosis is performed with MRI, then blood cultures and disco-vertebral biopsy. The main causative organisms are staphylococci (40 to 60%), even though tuberculosis can be observed in 20%. Specific antimicrobial therapy, immobilisation and reeducation are needed. Clinical practice guidelines for management of infectious spondylodiscitis have been edited in 2007.

Lack of association between rifampicin plasma concentration and treatment-related side effects in osteoarticular infections.

The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of gastrointestinal side effects (GSE) and hepatotoxicity in patients treated with rifampicin for an osteoarticular infection and to determine if there is an association between rifampicin plasma concentrations and side effects. Rifampicin plasma concentrations were prospectively measured before (trough concentration, C(0)) and 2 +/- 0.5 h (peak concentration, C(2)) after drug intake. The presence of GSE, the alanine transferase (ALT) value, and concomitantly administered medications were recorded on the day rifampicin concentrations were measured. C(0) and C(2) were compared for differences regarding the presence or absence of side effects. Multivariate analysis was performed, with associated medications being taken into account. Seventy C(0) and 57 C(2) values were measured in 46 adults after a median treatment of 8 days (range, 1-179). Wide inter-individual variability was observed for C(0) and C(2). Thirteen (28%) patients reported GSE at least once. When GSE occurred, C(0) (median, 1 mg L(-1); range, 0.1-9.9 mg L(-1)) and C(2) (median, 10.3 mg L(-1); range, 1.8-40.3 mg L(-1)) were similar to C(0) (median, 0.6 mg L(-1); range, 0.1-10.3 mg L(-1)) and C(2) (median, 10.9 mg L(-1); range, 2.9-29.0 mg L(-1)) without GSE. The ALT value was more than normal in only three patients (6.5%) after rifampicin treatment began. The patients received no different associated medications whether or not GSE were present. Multivariate analysis showed no association between rifampicin plasma concentrations and GSE. GSE occur frequently in patients receiving rifampicin for osteoarticular infection but without an association with rifampicin plasma concentrations. Thus, therapeutic drug monitoring of rifampicin is irrelevant in the management of GSE.

Multiresistant Enterobacter cloacae outbreak in an intensive care unit associated with therapeutic beds.

We report a multiresistant Enterobacter cloacae outbreak in an intensive care unit, associated with mattresses and with antibacterial-treated and vapour-permeable polyurethane synthetic mattress covers of therapeutic beds.

First isolation of Bartonella alsatica from a valve of a patient with endocarditis.

We report the first documented case of endocarditis in a man infected with Bartonella alsatica, which causes bacteremia in healthy wild rabbits. B. alsatica was identified by serology and culture and by PCR of an aortic valve specimen. B. alsatica should be added to the list of zoonotic agents of blood culture-negative endocarditis.

Mechanisms of early virologic failure in antiretroviral-naive patients starting protease inhibitor-containing regimens: the APROVIR Study.

The virologic and pharmacologic mechanisms of virologic failure (VF) were studied in 243 antiretroviral-naive patients starting first-line protease inhibitor (PI)-containing therapy (nelfinavir in 66% and indinavir in 19%). Among the 220 patients with follow-up data, VF occurred in 35 (16%) during the first year of follow-up. A higher baseline virus load and poorer adherence to therapy were associated with VF. At the time of VF, key PI-resistance mutations were detected in 11 (48%) of 23 patients who started on nelfinavir but were absent in 6 patients with indinavir treatment failure. PI plasma levels were more often below the range of active concentrations in VF with wild-type viruses (74%) than in VF with PI-resistant viruses (25%; P=.02). The mechanisms of early VF and of selection of PI-resistant viruses differed by type of PI and were dependent on PI plasma levels.