Antibiotic resistance in Enterobacteriaceae: what impact on the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in colorectal surgery?

Antibiotic prophylaxis, introduced in the 1940s, brought in an era of relatively safe colorectal surgery. This was achieved in part due to the prevention of surgical site infections (SSIs) caused by Enterobacteriaceae. Since then, Enterobacteriaceae have become increasingly resistant to the antibiotics commonly used for prophylaxis. The impact of being colonized preoperatively with resistant Enterobacteriaceae on the efficacy of colorectal SSI prophylaxis, if any, is unknown. It is also difficult to predict the likely impact of resistance as the exposure‒response relationships have not been determined for antibiotic surgical prophylaxis. Neither is it known which test for resistance to use; the importance of the concentration of Enterobacteriaceae in the colon, the ability of different species of Enterobacteriaceae to cause SSIs, and the comparative ability of minimum inhibitory concentration or presence of a resistance mechanism in predicting SSI risk have yet to be established. Clinical research is urgently needed to answer these questions.

Epidemiology of tuberculosis in Sardinia: a comparison of two data-gathering methods.

SETTING: A complete surveillance system for tuberculosis should be able to guarantee constant updating of incidence and provide useful data on a variety of problems related to tuberculosis such as drug resistance, co-infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the geographic origin of patients, and mycobacterial species. OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: To assess the completeness of the surveillance system currently operating in Sardinia, cases seen by all medical centres between 1987 and 1995 were compared with those notified to Sardinian Public Health Services for the same period. RESULTS: Each year, on average 39% of cases seen in Sardinia are notified; 646 (40%) of the 1591 patients notified during the study period were never seen by regional medical centres. An analysis of the results shows that from 1992 the decline recorded in incidence rates in previous years ceased: 1992 (26/100,000), 1993 (25/100,000), 1994 (28/100,000), and 1995 (24/100,000). CONCLUSIONS: The current surveillance system in Sardinia is inadequate for performing an accurate epidemiological survey of the disease. Epidemiological analysis based solely on notification can provide neither reliable incidence rates nor useful information concerning many aspects of tuberculosis.

[The heterotopic autograft of spleen fragments following splenectomy for trauma in the healthy subject]. / L'autotrapianto eterotopico di frammenti di milza dopo splenectomia per trauma, nel soggetto sano.

Authors report their experience on self-grafting of the spleen on 3 patients, among which a 9-year-old child. The surgical method is easy and quick and in their opinion it has given satisfactory results. In fact, basing themselves on the computation of the platelets values close to normality have been observed.