Healthcare-associated infections on the intensive care unit in 21 Brazilian hospitals during the early months of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: An ecological study.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global health crisis and may have affected healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention strategies. We evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HAI incidence in Brazilian intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS: In this ecological study, we compared adult patients admitted to the ICU from April through June 2020 (pandemic period) with the same period in 2019 (prepandemic period) in 21 Brazilian hospitals. We used the Wilcoxon signed rank-sum test in a pairwise analysis to compare the following differences between the pandemic and the prepandemic periods: microbiologically confirmed central-line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) incidence density (cases per 1,000 central line and ventilator days, respectively), the proportion of organisms that caused HAI, and antibiotic consumption (DDD). RESULTS: We detected a significant increase in median CLABSI incidence during the pandemic: 1.60 (IQR, 0.44-4.20) vs 2.81 (IQR, 1.35-6.89) (P = .002). We did not detect a significant difference in VAP incidence between the 2 periods. In addition, we detected a significant increase in the proportion of CLABSI caused by Enterococcus faecalis and Candida spp during the pandemic, although only the latter retained statistical significance after correction for multiple comparisons. We did not detect a significant change in ceftriaxone, piperacillin-tazobactam, meropenem, or vancomycin consumption between the studied periods. CONCLUSIONS: There was an increase in CLABSI incidence in Brazilian ICUs during the first months of COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we detected an increase in the proportion of CLABSI caused by E. faecalis and Candida spp during this period. CLABSI prevention strategies must be reinforced in ICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chikungunya on Kidney Transplant Recipients: Is It the Same?

BACKGROUND: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection is an acute febrile illness with polyarthralgia and arthritis. There are few data about CHIKV infection in kidney transplant recipients (KTR). We report the largest case series of CHIKV infection in this population. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 32 cases of CHIKV infection in KTR between January 2016 and December 2017 at Hospital Universitário Walter Cantídio of Federal University of Ceará. RESULTS: All patients had been in endemic areas before the beginning of the symptoms. All presented arthralgia, 15 (46.9%) with joint inflammatory symptoms and 14 (43.8%) evolved to chronic arthralgia. Seven (21.9%) showed acute kidney injury (AKI) by Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes criteria during the acute phase. Acute kidney injury was not related to prednisone use (odds ratio [OR], 0.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.04-2.61, P = 0.3) nor chronic arthralgia (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.2-8.4, P = 0.8) as well as male sex, chronic kidney disease and older than 60 years (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 0.3-10.3, P = 0.58; OR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.1-2.7, P = 0.4; and OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 0.3-14.9, P = 0.45, respectively). Hospitalization was associated to AKI (OR, 44.0; 95% CI, 3.8-503.1; P = 0.002), probably due to diarrhea or dehydration. One patient died throughout the study, possibly unassociated with CHIKV infection. CONCLUSIONS: KTR with CHIKV infection have a clinical presentation and evolution similar to those seen in the general population. Kidney function is generally well preserved, with transitory graft dysfunction without negative impact after 3 months from the beginning of the symptoms. Previous costicosteroids use did not relate with AKI or chronic arthralgia.

Salmonella typhi liver abscess overlying a metastatic melanoma.

Pyogenic liver abscesses caused by Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi, although rare, can occur especially in patients with pre-existing hepatobiliary disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and metastatic liver tumors. We present a case of Salmonella liver abscesses complicating metastatic melanoma in a 24-year-old alcoholic male.