Necessity for routine obstetric screening for hepatitis B surface antigen.

Routine serologic testing of pregnant women in a predominantly Hispanic population at the Los Angeles County Medical Center revealed that 8 of 2,000 were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBSAg). Only two of the eight women had a risk factor as currently defined by the Centers for Disease Control. Screening of all pregnant women is necessary to identify those HBSAg-positive women capable of transmitting the hepatitis B virus to their infants. All the other obstetric surveys reviewed support the need to screen obstetric patients and to provide immunoprophylaxis to the infants at risk of perinatal infection. This policy is necessary to prevent perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus and is cost effective.

Surgical management of fungal peripheral thrombophlebitis.

Fungal infection of central venous catheters is well described. Peripheral fungal thrombophlebitis, however, has only been recognized recently, is thought rare, and is poorly characterized as to clinical presentation and treatment. We report the cases of eight patients with peripheral Candida thrombophlebitis. Patients were elderly and critically ill. All had received broad-spectrum antibiotics. Skin colonization appeared the source of contamination. Sepsis, shock, and organ failure were frequent. Physical findings of fungal phlebitis may be subtle, and diagnosis is often delayed. Multiple sites are frequently involved. Treatment necessitates radical excision of suspected veins and systemic antifungal chemotherapy. Persistent fungemia suggests inadequate phlebectomy or the existence of further affected veins. Peripheral thrombophlebitis is probably a common source of fungal sepsis and should be considered in all patients with fungemia. Without aggressive surgical intervention, survival is unlikely.

Impact of cefoperazone therapy on fecal flora.

To evaluate the effects of parenteral cefoperazone therapy upon human fecal flora, fecal specimens obtained from four patients before and during therapy (as well as after therapy for one patient) were cultured quantitatively for facultative, aerobic, and anaerobic bacteria and for fungi. Cefoperazone therapy was associated with major changes in fecal flora. There was suppression to undetectable levels or an appreciable reduction in all anaerobic bacteria as well as suppression of all initially detected Enterobacteriaceae. During therapy, there was acquisition or an increase in counts of Candida spp., so that these became the most numerous fecal microorganisms in all patients. In addition, Pseudomonas spp. and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus sp. were acquired by three patients. These marked alterations in flora have potentially important consequences.

In vitro susceptibility of cephalothin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to Amikacin and selected new beta-lactam agents.

Amikacin was evaluated in vitro by agar dilution testing against 148 different clinical isolates of cephalothin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in parallel with cephalothin, cefoxitin, moxalactam, N-formimidoyl thienamycin, ceftriaxone, and cefmenoxime. Cefsulodin was also evaluated against 39 isolates of P. aeruginosa. More than 80% of all isolates tested were also gentamicin resistant, as determined by disk testing. Moxalactam and amikacin had comparable high activities against Proteus species, Escherichia coli, Serratia species, and Providencia species, and both amikacin and N-formimidoyl thienamycin had comparably high activities against the Klebsiella-Enterobacter group. N-Formimidoyl thienamycin was the most active agent against P. aeruginosa, followed by cefsulodin and amikacin.