Impetigo in soldiers after hand-to-hand combat training.

Bacterial skin infections are very common and trigger destruction of the skin integrity. Impetigo is a consequence of group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus or Staphylococcus aureus infection. The clinical presentation in general is very typical and empiric treatment is usually successful. In cases of close contacts such as between classmates, athletes, or soldiers, the prompt recognition and appropriate treatment of the infection may stop an epidemic. We report a group of six soldiers who shared the same military equipment (physical shields) during hand-to-hand combat training. All of the soldiers had skin lesions and two of them suffered from systemic symptoms. Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus and S. aureus were cultured from the impetiginous lesions. All patients recovered after systemic and/or local antibiotic treatments. These cases emphasize the need for the maintenance of proper hygiene throughout the training program to prevent spread of the disease and the importance of rapid diagnosis by bacteriological identification.

Bacteraemia and sinusitis due to Flavimonas oryzihabitans infection.

Flavimonas oryzihabitans is rarely reported as a pathogen in human infections and is related to opportunistic infection. Previously reported cases of infections caused by this bacterium were nosocomially acquired, including bacteraemia in critically ill patients, catheter-related infection, and peritonitis in patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Three cases of F. oryzihabitans infection are presented, 1 of which was sinusitis and 2 were nosocomially acquired bacteraemia. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of sinusitis infection due to F. oryzihabitans induced by prosthetic material. Isolates from the 2 bacteraemic patients were susceptible to tazobactam, ceftazidime, cefepime, aztreonam, gentamicin, amikacin, imipenem, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, but resistant to cephazolin, cefuroxime and trimethoprim. The isolate from the sinus was susceptible to gentamicin, amikacin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin. After appropriate treatment all the patients recovered and no longer showed signs of the pathogen.