Giant kidney worms in a patient with renal cell carcinoma.

Dioctophyma renale (D. renale), or giant kidney worms, are the largest nematodes that infect mammals. Approximately 20 cases of human infection have been reported. We present a case of a 71-year-old man with a recent history of unintentional weight loss and painless haematuria, passing elongated erythematous tissue via his urethra. CT revealed a left renal mass with pulmonary nodules and hepatic lesions. On microscopy, the erythematous tissue passed was identified as D. renale. On subsequent renal biopsy, pathology was consistent with renal cell carcinoma. This is the first reported case of concomitant D. renale infection and renal cell carcinoma, and the second reported case of D. renale infection of the left kidney alone.

Reported rates of diarrhea following oral penicillin therapy in pediatric clinical trials.

OBJECTIVES: Antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) is a well-recognized adverse reaction to oral penicillins. This review analyzed the literature to determine the incidence of AAD following amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, and penicillin V oral therapy in pediatric clinical trials. METHODS: An advanced search was conducted in MEDLINE and Embase databases for articles in any language reporting the incidence of AAD following oral penicillin therapy for any indicated infection in children (0-17 years). The search was limited to clinical trials. Articles were excluded if treatment was related to chronic conditions, involved concomitant antimicrobials, or if the dose or number of patients was not specified. RESULTS: Four hundred thirty-five articles relating to clinical trials were identified (307 from Embase; 128 from MEDLINE). Thirty-five articles reporting on 42 studies were included for analysis. The indications included acute otitis media, sinusitis, pharyngitis, and pneumonia. Thirty-three trials reported on amoxicillin/clavulanate, 6 on amoxicillin, and 3 on penicillin V. In total, the 42 trials included 7729 children who were treated with an oral penicillin. On average, 17.2% had AAD. Data were pooled for each penicillin. The AAD incidence was 19.8% for amoxicillin/clavulanate, 8.1% for amoxicillin, and 1.2% for penicillin V. The amoxicillin/clavulanate data were analyzed according to formulation: pooled-average. The incidence of ADD was 24.6% for the 4:1 formulation, 12.8% for the 7:1 formulation, 19.0% for the 8:1 formulation, and 20.2% for the 14:1 formulation. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate substantially increased incidence of AAD following use of amoxicillin/clavulanate, compared to use of amoxicillin and penicillin V, as well as varying AAD rates with diffierent amoxicillin/clavulanate formulations. These findings warrant consideration when prescribing. The underlying mechanisms of AAD in children remain unclear.