Vibrio fluvialis Bacteremia in an Immunocompetent Patient with Acute Cholangitis.

Vibrio fluvialis is a bacterium that can be found in both seawater and freshwater, and it is responsible for causing gastroenteritis and cholangitis. V. fluvialis bacteremia has rarely been reported. We report a case of V. fluvialis bacteremia due to cholangitis in an immunocompetent adult who was exposed to seawater regularly as a sushi chef. The increased risk of V. fluvialis entry into the body resulting from frequent consumption of raw fish and regular exposure to seawater, bile outflow impairment caused by transient inflammation of the bile duct, and the presence of multiple bile acid resistance-related genes in V. fluvialis may lead to the development of acute cholangitis and subsequent bacteremia in immunocompetent patients.

Emergence of Enterobacter cloacae Complex Co-Producing IMP-10 and CTX-M, and Klebsiella pneumoniae Producing VIM-1 in Clinical Isolates in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are an emerging threat in healthcare settings worldwide. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the presence of carbapenemase genes in CPE in a tertiary care university hospital in Tokyo, Japan. METHODS: Carbapenem-resistant clinical isolates were collected in 2018 at Teikyo University Hospital (Tokyo, Japan). Bacterial species were identified using MALDI-TOF MS. Carbapenemase production was evaluated using a carbapenemase inactivation method. The presence of carbapenemase genes was confirmed by multiplex PCR and DNA sequencing. RESULTS: Four CPE isolates were identified: two Enterobacter cloacae complex strains and Klebsiella oxytoca and Klebsiella pneumoniae strains. Three of the isolates (E. cloacae complex and K. oxytoca) were IMP-1-type producers, including IMP-10 in their produced metallo-ß-lactamase, and are epidemic in East Japan. The IMP-10-producing E. cloacae complex strain also produced CTX-M ESBL. The other CPE isolate (K. pneumoniae) is a VIM-1 producer. VIM-1-producing K. pneumoniae is epidemic in Europe, especially in Greece. Accordingly, the VIM-1 producer was isolated from a patient with a medical history in Greece. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the emergence of E. cloacae complex co-producing IMP-1-type carbapenemase and CTX-M ESBL, and K. pneumoniae producing VIM-1 carbapenemase in clinical isolates in Japan. Metallo-ß-lactamase was the most prevalent type of carbapenemase at Teikyo University Hospital, especially IMP-1-type carbapenemase. The detection of VIM-1-producing K. pneumoniae suggests that epidemic CPE from overseas can spread to countries with low CPE prevalence, such as Japan, highlighting the need for active surveillance.

Clinical Features and Liver Injury in Patients with COVID-19 in the Japanese Population.

Objective Liver injury is a notable complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to clarify the clinical features and liver injury in Japanese patients with COVID-19. Methods We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study. All consecutive patients with COVID-19 who visited or were admitted to our hospital before May 12, 2020, were enrolled. Their demographics, symptoms, laboratory findings, comorbidities, concomitant drugs, treatment, and clinical course were reviewed. We defined liver injury as alanine aminotransferase (ALT) or gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) levels over the upper limit of normal. Results Twenty-two patients with COVID-19 (median age, 47 years old; men/women, 13/9) were enrolled. Two patients had underlying liver diseases, and two were diagnosed as having COVID-19 without any symptoms. Elevated ALT and GGT levels were found in 12 and 12 patients, respectively, and liver injury was observed in 15 patients (68.2%). Compared with the patients without liver injury, those with liver injury had a significantly higher fever during the clinical course (median, 37.5°C vs. 38.8°C, p=0.006). A significant correlation was found between the highest serum liver values and the highest body temperature in each patient. Among the 22 patients, 4 required artificial respiratory support, and 2 died thereafter. Liver injury was not associated with the severity or mortality of COVID-19. Conclusion Elevated levels of liver enzymes in the Japanese patients with COVID-19 were associated with the highest body temperature during the clinical course but not with the severity or mortality of COVID-19.

Tokyo Guidelines 2018: antimicrobial therapy for acute cholangitis and cholecystitis.

Antimicrobial therapy is a mainstay of the management for patients with acute cholangitis and/or cholecystitis. The Tokyo Guidelines 2018 (TG18) provides recommendations for the appropriate use of antimicrobials for community-acquired and healthcare-associated infections. The listed agents are for empirical therapy provided before the infecting isolates are identified. Antimicrobial agents are listed by class-definitions and TG18 severity grade I, II, and III subcategorized by clinical settings. In the era of emerging and increasing antimicrobial resistance, monitoring and updating local antibiograms is underscored. Prudent antimicrobial usage and early de-escalation or termination of antimicrobial therapy are now important parts of decision-making. What is new in TG18 is that the duration of antimicrobial therapy for both acute cholangitis and cholecystitis is systematically reviewed. Prophylactic antimicrobial usage for elective endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is no longer recommended and the section was deleted in TG18. Free full articles and mobile app of TG18 are available at: http://www.jshbps.jp/modules/en/index.php?content_id=47. Related clinical questions and references are also included.

Updated comprehensive epidemiology, microbiology, and outcomes among patients with acute cholangitis.

BACKGROUND: The international practice guidelines for patients with acute cholangitis and cholecystitis were released in 2007 (TG07) and revised in 2013 (TG13). This study investigated updated epidemiology and outcomes among patients with acute cholangitis on a larger scale for the first time. METHODS: This is an international multi-center retrospective observational study in Japan and Taiwan. All consecutive patients older than 18 years of age and given a clinical diagnosis of acute cholangitis by clinicians between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2012 were enrolled. Those who met the diagnostic criteria of acute cholangitis by TG13 were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 7,294 patients were enrolled and 6,433 patients met the TG13 diagnostic criteria. The severity distribution was Grade I (37.5%), Grade II (36.2%), and Grade III (26.2%). The 30-day all-cause mortality was 2.4%, 4.7%, and 8.4% in Grade I, II, III severity, respectively (P < 0.001). The incidence of liver abscess and endocarditis as complications of acute cholangitis was 2.0% and 0.26%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first large scale study to investigate patients with acute cholangitis. This study provides the basis to define the best practices to manage patients with acute cholangitis in future studies.

[Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii].

Teikyo University Hospital reported an outbreak of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB) to the local public health department in 2010. The number of inpatients with MDRAB including asympto- matic carriers was 58 between August 2009 and September 2010. The way to tackle infection control issues has been comprehensively revised since this event in our hospital. The change could not have been achieved by a single department, such as the Department of Infection Control and Prevention or the Central Laboratory alone. Rather, collaboration among every department in the hospital was necessary. Although the impact of the outbreak on our hospital was enormous, it elucidated various clues to improve hospital man- agement regarding not only infection control but also safety management. [Review].

Genotyping of Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated at a Japanese hospital over five years using targeted next-generation sequencing.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram-negative bacterial agent involved in nosocomial infections. In this five-year retrospective study, phylogenetic relationships among carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii strains that were isolated at Teikyo University Hospital in Tokyo metropolis, Japan, were explored. A panel of 72 carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii strains that isolated from January 2006 until August 2010 was studied. Next-Generation sequencing (NGS) was employed to perform large-scale genotyping of these isolates. They were separated, according to the time of isolation, into two genetically distinct groups, one correspondent to strains of the outbreak reported to local public health department in 2010 and the other contained strains from earlier isolations, suggesting different origins of the isolates. Moreover, taxa in each group showed two main clustering patterns. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) study on 8 isolates from the last outbreak showed that they were from one sequence type, 92, displaying less discriminatory power comparing to large-sequence typing. The clonal lineage profiles produced in this retrospective study will be used as a reference database to compare future isolations of A. baumannii. This study demonstrates the power of NGS in conducting epidemiological researches, allowing a high resolution genotyping.

Infective endocarditis due to Enterobacter cloacae resistant to third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins.

We report the case of using a long-term combination of meropenem and amikacin to treat infective endocarditis caused by Enterobacter cloacae resistant to third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins. Multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacilli, such as the E. cloacae in our study, may become possible pathogens of infective endocarditis. Our experience with this case indicates that long-term use of a combination of ß-lactam and aminoglycosides might represent a suitable management option for future infective endocarditis cases due to non-Haemophilus, Actinobacillus, Cardiobacterium, Eikenella, Kingella spp. (HACEK group) Gram-negative bacilli such as ours.

Liver Abscess With a Markedly High Level of Carbohydrate Antigen 19-9.

Serological tumor markers are useful for detection of malignancies and evaluation of disease progression. However, some markers are rarely elevated in patients with benign diseases and without malignancies. We herein present a case of a liver abscess with a highly elevated carbohydrate antigen (CA 19-9) level in both the serum and abscess fluid. The serological level of CA 19-9 decreased with treatment. Although CA 19-9 is known to be a specific tumor marker, high serum levels of CA 19-9 can be observed in patients with pyogenic liver abscesses. CA 19-9 may also be a marker for treatment response in patients with liver abscesses.

[Acinetobacter spp].

Acinetobacter species are aerobic, glucose non-fermenting gram-negative rods, and ubiquitous in the environment. Acinetobacter spp. can survive for months on dry surfaces. Acinetobacter spp. have been grown from skin, pharynx, sputum, urine and feces. The most common Acinetobacter infection is pneumonia. According to Japan Nosocomial Infection Surveillance, 0.34% of the Acinetobacter spp. was multidrug-resistant in 2010. In Japan, Acinetobacter spp. whose imipenem MICs were > or = 16 microg/mL, amikacin > or = 32 microg/mL, and ciprofloxacin > or = 4 microg/mL were defined as multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter species (MDRA) in 2011 in the amended Infectious Diseases Control Law. Break-point Checkerboard Plate can help to infer an effective combination antimicrobial therapy. A selective medium for the isolation of MDRA is a great tool for active surveillance cultures. Treatment options for MDRA infections in Japan are very limited, because colistin, polymyxin B, or tigecycline is not approved. Keys to control MDRA are high levels of compliance with standard and contact precautions, appropriate cleaning and disinfection of the environment, and judicious antimicrobial use.

Parabacteroides gordonii sp. nov., isolated from human blood cultures.

Three bacterial strains that had been isolated from human blood cultures, MS-1(T), MS-2 and MS-3, were characterized for their phenotypic and biochemical features, cellular fatty acid profiles, menaquinone profiles and phylogenetic positions based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the isolates were members of the genus Parabacteroides. These isolates were most closely related to Parabacteroides goldsteinii JCM 13446(T), with 95.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. The levels of sequence similarity among the three strains were 99.7-100 %. The isolates were obligately anaerobic, non-pigmented, non-spore-forming, non-motile, Gram-negative and rod-shaped. The strains grew on media containing 20 % bile. These strains could be differentiated from P. goldsteinii by their ability to ferment l-arabinose and inabilities to ferment cellobiose, l-rhamnose and trehalose or to hydrolyse aesculin. The major menaquinone of the isolates was MK-10. Based on these data, we propose a novel Parabacteroides species, Parabacteroides gordonii sp. nov. The type strain is MS-1(T) (=JCM 15724(T) =CCUG 57478(T)).

Diagnostic patterns in the evaluation of patients hospitalized with syncope.

BACKGROUND: Syncope accounts for 5% of all hospital admissions. The etiology of syncope varies broadly, and nonselective, inpatient diagnostic evaluations to determine the cause of syncope are often inconclusive. We analyzed the yield of inpatient diagnostic tests for syncope, comparing patients with and without an initial suspected diagnosis of vasovagal syncope. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of consecutive adult patients with a principal diagnosis of syncope (ICD-9 Code 780.2) who were admitted through the emergency department of an 800-bed teaching hospital from January 1, 2000, to May 31, 2001. RESULTS: A total of 267 patients (150 women, 117 men; mean age, 72.4 +/- 15.3 years) were identified. On admission, a diagnosis of vasovagal syncope was suspected in 47% of patients. Inpatient tests, including telemetry monitoring, echocardiography, and stress testing, were significantly lower yielding in patients with suspected vasovagal syncope when compared to patients with other suspected etiologies (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the significant length of hospital stay (median 4 days), we found that inpatient diagnostic workups for patients with suspected vasovagal syncope were low yielding, especially with regard to cardiac testing. Furthermore, abnormal test results did not change the discharge diagnosis.