Factors associated with treatment failure after advice from infectious disease specialists.

OBJECTIVE: Risk factors associated with treatment failure after the infectious disease specialist's (IDS) advice remain unknown. We aimed to identify these risk factors. METHODS: We included patients hospitalized in our tertiary care center who consulted an infectious disease specialist between January 2013 and April 2015. Treatment failure was defined by a composite criterion: signs of sepsis beyond Day 3, ICU admission, or death. Treatment success was defined by the patient's sustained clinical improvement. RESULTS: A total of 240 IDS recommendations were made. Diagnosis was changed for 64 patients (26.7%) and 50 patients experienced treatment failure after the IDS advice. In multivariate analysis, compliance with the IDS advice was associated with a higher rate of success (OR=0.09, 95%CI [0.01-0.67]). Variables associated with treatment failure in the multivariate analysis were Charlson comorbidity score at admission (OR=1.24, 95%CI [1.03-1.50]), a history of infection or colonization with multidrug-resistant bacteria (OR=8.27, 95%CI [1.37-49.80]), and deterioration of the patient's status three days after the IDS advice (OR=12.50, 95%CI [3.16-49.46]). CONCLUSION: Reassessing IDS recommendations could be interesting for specific patients to further adapt and improve them.

[Neurosyphilis: A retrospective study of 13 cases at Strasbourg University Hospital]. / La neurosyphilis, étude rétrospective de 13 cas survenus aux hôpitaux universitaires de Strasbourg.

OBJECTIVE: After a decade of constant decline, the number of syphilis cases has been steadily increasing since the 2000s, particularly in HIV infected patients. Neurosyphilis is a rare manifestation of this sexually transmitted disease for which we performed a retrospective study and analyzed clinical manifestations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed retrospectively all the neurosyphilis cases admitted to Strasbourg University Hospital between 2004 and 2014. We included and analyzed 13 patients admitted during this period who met the diagnostic criteria for neurosyphilis. RESULTS: Nine of 13 patients had isolated visual manifestations; three (23.1%) experienced posterior uveitis, two (15.4%), panuveitis, and 4 (30.8%) had papillitis. Out of five patients (38.5%) who were HIV positive, three (60%) had a CD4 cell count above 400/mm3 at the time of diagnosis of neurosyphilis. All patients received parenteral penicillin G or cephalosporin, and 5/13 (38.5%) received systemic corticotherapy. CONCLUSION: Ophthalmologists appear as key players in the identification, management and follow-up of neurosyphilis, since ocular findings are key diagnostic features in these patients.

VISLISI trial, a prospective clinical study allowing identification of a new metalloprotease and putative virulence factor from Staphylococcus lugdunensis.

OBJECTIVE: Staphylococcus lugdunensis is a coagulase-negative staphylococcus that displays an unusually high virulence rate close to that of Staphylococcus aureus. It also shares phenotypic properties with S. aureus and several studies found putative virulence factors. The objective of the study was to describe the clinical manifestations of S. lugdunensis infections and investigate putative virulence factors. METHOD: We conducted a prospective study from November 2013 to March 2016 at the University Hospital of Strasbourg. Putative virulence factors were investigated by clumping factor detection, screening for proteolytic activity, and sequence analysis using tandem nano-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. RESULTS: In total, 347 positive samples for S. lugdunensis were collected, of which 129 (37.2%) were from confirmed cases of S. lugdunensis infection. Eighty-one of these 129 patients were included in the study. Bone and prosthetic joints (PJI) were the most frequent sites of infection (n=28; 34.6%) followed by skin and soft tissues (n=23; 28.4%). We identified and purified a novel protease secreted by 50 samples (61.7%), most frequently associated with samples from deep infections and PJI (pr 0.97 and pr 0.91, respectively). Protease peptide sequencing by nano-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed a novel protease bearing 62.42% identity with ShpI, a metalloprotease secreted by Staphylococcus hyicus. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the pathogenicity of S. lugdunensis, particularly in bone and PJI. We also identified a novel metalloprotease called lugdulysin that may contribute to virulence.