Twenty-nine cases of invasive aspergillosis in neutropenic patients.

INTRODUCTION: Invasive aspergillosis is a life-threatening infectious complication in hematological patients undergoing immunosuppressive chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report 29 cases of invasive aspergillosis diagnosed in the Sousse Farhat Hached hospital Hematology unit, Tunisia, between 2002 and 2010. RESULTS: The most frequent disease (65.5%) was acute myeloid leukemia. All patients were severely neutropenic (<500/mm(3), mean duration=27 days). Pulmonary invasive aspergillosis was suggested in 28 (96.5%) cases. The most frequent respiratory signs were cough (64.3%), chest pain (53.6%), and hemoptysis (50%). The chest X-ray showed suggestive lesions in 60.7% of cases. CT scans revealed nodules with cavitation in 65% of cases, a halo sign in 20% of cases, and nodules in 15% of cases. Galactomannan antigenemia was positive in 88%, mycological examination positive in 51.6%, and seroconversion was noted in 35.7% of the cases. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis was classified, according to EORTC/MSG criteria, as probable in 26 cases, possible in one case, and proven in one case. Aspergillus flavus was the dominant species in pulmonary invasive aspergillosis accounting for 73.7% of isolates. Extrapulmonary involvement was suggested in 39.3% of cases, the most frequent were sinusitis and brain abscess. Primary cutaneous aspergillosis was observed in one case. The overall mortality rate was 64.2%; the 12-week survival rate was 71.4%. CONCLUSION: Our results are correlated to published data. A. flavus was the most frequent species in our region.

[Morbidity diagnosed in the general medicine public structures in Tunisia]. / La morbidité diagnostiquée dans les structures publiques de médecine générale en Tunisie.

The study of morbidity in general medicine is very useful in order to adapt training curricula to the reality of medical practice in the first degree. The objective of this work was to describe the morbidity charted in general medicine in Tunisia's Sousse region. It consisted of a prospective and descriptive study involving six basic health centres in Sousse and was conducted over the course of 30 randomly selected days during the year 2000. There were 4022 consultations included in the study which were described according to the SOAP plan. The coding of the charted diagnoses was carried out according to the International Classification of Primary Care (CISP). There were 98% of the consultants who were self-referred and 84% of the consultations corresponded to new cases. The consultants' sex-ratio was 0.5 in favour of females with an average age of 27 years. There were 4,597 diagnoses noted utilising 336 codes from the CISP classification system. The "Respiratory" chapter took the first place on the list (39.6%) followed by the "Circulatory" chapter. The "Top 30" list of the most often charted diagnoses totaled 72% of the consultations among which the three most frequent health problems were pharyngitis (14.4%), acute bronchitis (8.3%) and arterial hypertension (7.4%). This study demonstrates that the practice of general medicine is characterised by instinctive first solutions and versatility. The predominance of cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses illustrates the double burden of morbidity which is faced by Tunisian general medicine practitioners. The "Top 30" list should serve as basis for planning pregraduate and continuing medical training.