Skin and soft tissue infection by Mycobacterium intracellulare in an immunocompetent patient.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections still represent a large group of insidious diseases hard to deal with. Traditionally, immunocompromised patients suffer from NTM infections, especially with respiratory involvement or disseminated diseases due to MAC (Mycobacterium avium complex). Here we report a rare case of Mycobacterium intracellulare infection involving skin and soft tissue, manifested as a chronic cutaneous ulcer in an immunocompetent patient with several comorbidities, including seizures. Accurate diagnosis of species was obtained with in vitro culture and RT-PCR (Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction) following a high clinical suspicion. Despite the high complexity of NTM infections, it is possible to achieve diagnostic goals through the appropriate employment of recent DNA-molecular technologies and an adequate management.

The early diagnosis and therapy of septic shock caused by soft tissue infection / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective To assess the prognostic accuracy of the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score for septic shock of adults with soft tissue infections.The clinical characteristics of these patients were analyzed to provide reference for their multidisciplinary treatment.Methods A retrospective study was conducted.The patients with soft tissue infections admitted to the General Surgery Department of Beijing Hospital and the Burn and Plastic Surgery Department of Fourth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from January 2012 to December 2018 were enrolled and patients combined with other infections were excluded.Patients were divided into the septic shock group and the non-septic group according to whether septic shock occurred during hospitalization.The baseline data,non-operative management and prognosis were compared between the two groups with Fisher's exact test.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the qSOFA for diagnosis of sepsis and septic shock were calculated.Patients were also divided into four groups according to the etiology of soft tissue infection.The pathogens,surgical treatment and morbidity of septic shock among the four groups were also compared.Results A total of 192 patients were enrolled,including 28 (14.6％) patients with septic shock.Compared with the non-septic shock group,there were more proportion of patients with qSOFA ≥ 2 (60.7％ vs 18.3％,P=0.001) within 24 h of diagnosis of infection,and higher morbidity of sepsis (82.1％ vs 32.9％,P＜0.01)within 48 h of diagnosis of infection in the septic shock group.At the cut-off value of qSOFA ≥ 2,the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,negative predictive value and the AUC were 60.7％,81.7％,36.2％,92.4％ and 0.767 (95％CI:0.665-0.869,P＜0.01) respectively for diagnosis of septic shock.The morbidity of septic shock (36.4％) and 28-day mortality (13.6％) in patients with necrotizing fasciitis were higher than those in patients with other causes (both P＜0.05).The most common pathogens were methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus (6.8％),methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (6.2％),Enterobacter (5.7％) and Enterococcus (5.2％).Conclusions qSOFA ≥ 2 can be used as a rapid septic shock screening tool for adults with soft tissue infection.Early diagnosis of sepsis,thorough debridement and effective antibiotic treatment are essential for these patients.

Diagnosis accuracy of quick sequential organ failure assessment score for adult sepsis patient with soft tissue infection / 中华危重病急救医学

To assess the diagnosis accuracy of the quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score for adult sepsis patient with soft tissue infection, and to assess the prognostic accuracy of the qSOFA score for septic shock. Methods A retrospective study was conducted. The patients with soft tissue infection admitted to the general surgery department of Beijing Hospital and the burns and plastic surgery department of Fourth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from January 2012 to December 2018 were enrolled. Patients were divided into the sepsis group and the non-sepsis group according to whether sepsis occurred within 48 hours after diagnosis of infection. The baseline data, prognosis, and qSOFA, the change of sequential organ failure assessment (ΔSOFA), systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) scores were compared between the two groups, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were also drawn to assess the diagnosis accuracy of the qSOFA and SIRS scores for adult sepsis patients with soft tissue infection and to assess the prognostic accuracy of the qSOFA, ΔSOFA and SIRS scores for septic shock of these patients. Results 192 patients were included in the study. Sepsis occurred in 79 patients (41.1%) within 48 hours after diagnosis of infection. Septic shock occurred in 28 patients (14.6%) during 28-day hospitalization and 6 patients (3.1%) died. Compared with non-sepsis group, more proportion of necrotizing fasciitis, septic shock and patients received mechanical ventilation (21.5% vs. 4.4%, 31.6% vs. 2.7%, 16.5% vs. 4.4%, all P < 0.01), with higher mortality (7.6% vs. 0%, P = 0.003) in sepsis group. ROC curve analysis showed that when the cut-off value of qSOFA ≥ 2, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under ROC curve (AUC) were 48.1%, 92.0%, 80.8%, 71.7% and 0.824 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 0.764-0.884, P < 0.01] respectively for diagnosis of sepsis caused by soft tissue infection. When the cut-off value of SIRS score ≥ 3, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and AUC were 89.8%, 48.6%, 55.0%, 87.3% and 0.721 (95%CI = 0.677-0.765, P < 0.01) respectively for diagnosis of sepsis caused by soft tissue infection. All scores of qSOFA ≥ 2, ΔSOFA ≥ 2 and SIRS score ≥3 could be used to predict septic shock (all P < 0.01). The AUC of ΔSOFA, qSOFA and SIRS scores were 0.767 (95%CI = 0.665-0.869), 0.840 (95%CI = 0.757-0.923) and 0.716 (95%CI = 0.596-0.835) respectively. Conclusions qSOFA ≥ 2 can be used as a rapid sepsis screening tool for adult patients with soft tissue infection. It is suggested that qSOFA or SIRS scores can be used to predict septic shock of adult patients with soft tissue infection initially.

Oritavancin: a long-acting antibacterial lipoglycopeptide.

Oritavancin is a new lipoglycopeptide antibacterial agent with an exceptionally long terminal half-life and a rapid bactericidal effect. Multiple mechanisms of action lead to a broad activity against Gram-positive bacteria, such as staphylococci, streptococci and enterococci, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Its long terminal half-life allows for single-dose treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. Oritavancin was found to be safe and effective in treating acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections in adults and it is currently approved in the USA and in Europe for this indication. Unfortunately, data for other indications are lacking. Here, we review chemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, efficacy and tolerability of oritavancin.