[Community-acquired bacterial infections among type 2 diabetic and non-diabetic patients hospitalized on a general medical ward: a clinical comparison]. / 2-es típusú diabetesesek és nem cukorbetegek területen szerzett, belgyógyászati osztályos felvételt igénylo bakteriális infekcióinak klinikai összehasonlítása.

Introduction: Previous data showed bacterial infections among diabetic patients to be more serious and frequent, with higher mortality rates in comparison with non-diabetics. Recent investigations, however, are contradictory. Aim: The goal of our prospective, observational study was to compare patients hospitalized on a general medical ward due to community-acquired bacterial infections with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to those of non-diabetics (K) by 1) infection localization, 2) spectrum of pathogens, 3) three-month mortality rates. Method: Patients were consecutively involved (T2DM: n = 205, K: n = 202). We characterized the infections, clinical parameters, mortalities of the two groups, and matched them to international data. Results: No difference regarding clinical details of the groups were found except for glycemic parameters and BMI. In the T2DM group the skin- and soft tissue- (37.1%), in the K patients respiratory infections (37.1%) were the most common, followed by urinary ones (31.2% and 31.7%, respectively). Skin- and soft tissue infection incidence among T2DM subjects were higher compared to international results (37.1% vs. 16%). Co-presence of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria in the skin- and soft tissue infections (23/76 vs. 5/46, p = 0.0149), and polymicrobial origin in the urinary tract infections (34.0% vs. 15.1%, p = 0.0335) were found to be more frequent in T2DM than in K. No difference regarding mortality rates were detected. In T2DM the skin- and soft tissue while in the K group the respiratory infections had the most death counts. Conclusions: We found higher rates of skin- and soft tissue infections among T2DM patients hospitalized on a general medical ward compared to international data. In total we did not find difference regarding three-month mortality between the groups. Our results highlight the importance of primary prevention and shows its inadequacy concerning skin and soft tissue infections among type 2 diabetics in Hungary. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(41): 1623-1632.

Chloroquine cardiotoxicity mimicking connective tissue disease heart involvement.

The authors report a case of rare chloroquine cardiotoxicity mimicking connective tissue disease heart involvement in a 56-year-old woman with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) manifested suddenly as third degree A-V block with QT(c) interval prolongation and short torsade de pointes runs ultimately degenerating into ventricular fibrillation. Immunological tests suggested an MCTD flare, implying that cardiac arrest had resulted from myocardial involvement by MCTD. However, QT(c) prolongation is not a characteristic of cardiomyopathy caused by connective tissue disease, unless anti-Ro/SSA positivity is present, but that was not the case. Therefore, looking for another cause of QT(c) prolongation the possibility of chloroquine cardiotoxicity emerged, which the patient had been receiving for almost two years in supramaximal doses. Biopsy of the deltoid muscle was performed, because in chloroquine toxicity, specific lesions are present both in the skeletal muscle and in the myocardium, and electron microscopy revealed the accumulation of cytoplasmic curvilinear bodies, which are specific to antimalarial-induced myocyte damage and are absent in all other muscle diseases, except neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis. Thus, the diagnosis of chloroquine cardiotoxicity was established. It might be advisable to supplement the periodic ophthalmological examination, which is currently the only recommendation for patients on long-term chloroquine therapy, with ECG screening.