Prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Mycoplasma hominis.

Mycoplasma hominis endocarditis is extremely uncommon and difficult to diagnose. Atypical growth characteristics in routine bacterial culture and an inability to demonstrate the organism using Gram staining can lead to a delayed diagnosis of Mycoplasma hominis infections, and the organism is often missed. This report describes a patient with Mycoplasma hominis prosthetic valve endocarditis. The microorganism was recovered from the mitral prosthesis but was missed in blood cultures. This finding suggests that Mycoplasma hominis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of culture-negative endocarditis.

[UTIscreen versus UROQUICK: two semiautomatic systems for bacteriuria detection]. / UTIscreen frente a UROQUICK: dos sistemas semiautomáticos de detección de bacteriuria.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study is to find a rapid and reliable method for urine screen. With this purpose two semiautomatic systems have been evaluated: UTIscreen and UROQUICK. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We have carried out a prospective study of a total 1,070 urine specimens from patients with suspected urinary infection. Each sample has been inoculated in the two semiautomatic systems and compared with the semiquantitative plate culture as the reference method. RESULTS: Both semiautomatic systems showed similar specificity and sensitivity at an interpretative breakpoint of 30,000 CFU/ml, with a low number of false positives. Uninfected specimens can be reported the same day of reception. CONCLUSIONS: Both UTIscreen and UROQUICK systems seem to be adequate for urinary tract infection screening. They are reliable and easy to perform, but in our particular case we find advantage in using UTIscreen because the faster reading of this system makes posible to report the negative results in the same morning of reception of the specimen and do the culture of all the positive samples during our usual working schedule.

The in vitro activity of beta-lactam antibiotics against gentamicin and/or carbenicillin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains.

We studied the behaviour of 56 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains against the following beta-lactam antibiotics: cefotaxime, cefoperazone, cefsulodin, lamoxactam, Ro 13-9904, azlocillin, mezlocillin and ticarcillin. Twenty-six strains were resistant to gentamicin and 30 to gentamicin and/or carbenicillin. The MICs were measured by the serial dilution test on solid agar. Cefsulodin was the most active cephalosporin against carbenicillin-resistant strains (MIC greater than or equal to 128 mg/l); it inhibited 56.6% of these strains at a concentration of 8 mg/l. Azlocillin was the most active penicillin, inhibiting 79.96% of the same strains at a concentration of 64 mg/l. Cefsulodin was the most active cephalosporin against the gentamicin-resistant group of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains (MIC greater than or equal to 8 mg/l) which were sensitive to carbenicillin (MIC less than or equal to 64 mg/l). It inhibited 100% of the strains at a concentration of 4 mg/l. All of the penicillins studied inhibited all of the strains in this group. The required concentrations were the following: 16 mg/l for azlocillin, 32 mg/l for mezlocillin and 64 mg/l for ticarcillin.

[Acute rheumatic carditis. Follow-up (author's transl)]. / La carditis reumática en nuestro medio. Clínica y evolución a largo plazo.

Thirteen cases with a first attack of acute theumatic carditis are presented, analyzing the clinical picture and long-term follow-up. Although the clinical acute attack was quite benign, incidence and importance of residual heart disease has not changed.