Healthcare-acquired Pneumonia Research Articles

Severe Human Parainfluenza Virus Community- and Healthcare-Acquired Pneumonia in Adults at Tertiary Hospital, Seoul, South Korea, 2010-2019.

The characteristics of severe human parainfluenza virus (HPIV)-associated pneumonia in adults have not been well evaluated. We investigated epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 143 patients with severe HPIV-associated pneumonia during 2010-2019. HPIV was the most common cause (25.2%) of severe virus-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia and the third most common cause (15.7%) of severe virus-associated community-acquired pneumonia. Hematologic malignancy (35.0%), diabetes mellitus (23.8%), and structural lung disease (21.0%) were common underlying conditions. Co-infections occurred in 54.5% of patients admitted to an intensive care unit. The 90-day mortality rate for HPIV-associated pneumonia was comparable to that for severe influenza virus-associated pneumonia (55.2% vs. 48.4%; p = 0.22). Ribavirin treatment was not associated with lower mortality rates. Fungal co-infections were associated with 82.4% of deaths. Clinicians should consider the possibility of pathogenic co-infections in patients with HPIV-associated pneumonia. Contact precautions and environmental cleaning are crucial to prevent HPIV transmission in hospital settings.

Rapid Point-of-Care PCR Testing of Drug-Resistant Strains on Endotracheal Aspirate Samples: A Repurposed Effective Tool in the Stepwise Approach of Healthcare-Acquired Pneumonia-A Pilot Study.

Healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP) is a common nosocomial infection with high morbidity and mortality. Culture-based detection of the etiologic agent and drug susceptibility is time-consuming, potentially leading to the inadequate use of broad-spectrum empirical antibiotic regimens. The aim was to evaluate the diagnostic capabilities of rapid point-of-care multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays from the endotracheal aspirate of critically ill patients with HCAP. A consecutive series of 29 intensive care unit (ICU) patients with HCAP and a control group of 28 patients undergoing elective surgical procedures were enrolled in the study. The results of the PCR assays were compared to the culture-based gold standard. The overall accuracy of the PCR assays was 95.12%, with a sensitivity of 92.31% and a specificity of 97.67%. The median time was 90 min for the rapid PCR tests (p < 0.001), while for the first preliminary results of the cultures, it was 48 h (46-72). The overall accuracy for rapid PCR testing in suggesting an adequate antibiotic adjustment was 82.98% (95% CI 69.19-92.35%), with a specificity of 90% (95% CI 55.50-99.75%), a positive predictive value of 96.77% (95% CI 83.30-99.92%), and a negative predictive value of 56.25 (95% CII 29.88-80.25%). This method of rapid point-of-care PCR could effectively guide antimicrobial stewardship in patients with healthcare-acquired pneumonia.

Epidemiology, etiology, and diagnosis of health care acquired pneumonia including ventilator-associated pneumonia in Nepal.

Epidemiologic data regarding health care acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) from Nepal are negligible. We conducted a prospective observational cohort study in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a major tertiary hospital in Nepal between April 2016 and March 2018, to calculate the incidence of VAP, and to describe clinical variables, microbiological etiology, and outcomes. Four hundred and thirty-eight patients were enrolled in the study. Demographic data, medical history, antimicrobial administration record, chest X-ray, biochemical, microbiological and haematological results, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II score and the sequential organ failure assessment scores were recorded. Categorical variables were expressed as count and percentage and analyzed using the Fisher's exact test. Continuous variables were expressed as median and interquartile range and analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test and the pairwise Wilcoxon rank-sum test. 46.8% (205/438) of the patients required intubation. Pneumonia was common in both intubated (94.14%; 193/205) and non-intubated (52.36%; 122/233) patients. Pneumonia developed among intubated patients in the ICU had longer days of stay in the ICU (median of 10, IQR 5-15, P< 0.001) when compared to non-intubated patients with pneumonia (median of 4, IQR 3-6, P< 0.001). The incidence rate of VAP was 20% (41/205) and incidence density was 16.45 cases per 1,000ventilator days. Mortality was significantly higher in patients with pneumonia requiring intubation (44.6%, 86/193) than patients with pneumonia not requiring intubation (10.7%, 13/122, p<0.001, Fisher's exact test). Gram negative bacteria such as Klebsiella and Acinetobacter species were the dominant organisms from both VAP and non-VAP categories. Multi-drug resistance was highly prevalent in bacterial isolates associated with VAP (90%; 99/110) and non-VAP categories (81.5%; 106/130). HAP including VAP remains to be the most prevalent hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) at Patan hospital. A local study of etiological agents and outcomes of HAP and VAP are required for setting more appropriate guidelines for management of such diseases.

CD5L contributes to the pathogenesis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-induced pneumonia

Staphylococcus aureus is a major causative microorganism in community- and healthcare-acquired pneumonia. CD5L is an important protein in the control of immune homeostasis. In this study, we found that patients with S. aureus pneumonia displayed increased levels of circulating CD5L. Likewise, mice with S. aureus pneumonia had elevated CD5L levels in the lungs. Anti-CD5L antibody protected mice from lethal pneumonia induced by methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The survival benefit obtained with antibody against CD5L was associated with an improvement of bacterial clearance and a reduction of pulmonary inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Conversely, co-injection of recombinant CD5L and S. aureus markedly increased the lethality of S. aureus pneumonia. These findings suggest that CD5L contributed to the immunopathology of S. aureus pneumonia.

Imaging of Community-acquired Pneumonia.

Community-acquired pneumonia refers to an acute infection of the lung in patients who did not meet any of the criteria for health care-acquired pneumonia, and is associated with at least some symptoms of acute infection, accompanied by the presence of an acute infiltrate on a chest radiograph. Chest radiography remains an important component of the evaluation of a patient with a suspicion of pneumonia, and is usually the first examination to be obtained. The diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia is based on the presence of select clinical features and is supported by imaging of the lung, usually by chest radiography. Infection of the lower respiratory tract typically presents radiologically as one of 3 patterns: (a) focal nonsegmental or lobar pneumonia, (b) multifocal bronchopneumonia or lobular pneumonia, and (c) focal or diffuse "interstitial" pneumonia. High-resolution computed tomography allows a better depiction of the pattern and distribution of pneumonia than the radiograph but is seldom required in the evaluation of patients with suspected or proven bacterial pneumonia. However, high-resolution computed tomography is a useful adjunct to conventional radiography in selected cases.

Murine Oropharyngeal Aspiration Model of Ventilator-associated and Hospital-acquired Bacterial Pneumonia.

Murine infection models are critical for understanding disease pathogenesis and testing the efficacy of novel therapeutics designed to combat causative pathogens. Infectious pneumonia is among the most common infections presented by patients in the clinic and thus warrants an appropriate in vivo model. Typical pneumonia models use intranasal inoculation, which deposits excessive organisms outside the lung, causing off-target complications and symptoms, such as sinusitis, gastritis, enteritis, physical trauma, or microparticle misting to mimic aerosol spread more typical of viral, tuberculous, or fungal pneumonia. These models do not accurately reflect the pathogenesis of typical community- or healthcare-acquired bacterial pneumonia. In contrast, this murine model of oropharyngeal aspiration pneumonia mimics the droplet route in healthcare-acquired pneumonia. Inoculating 50 µL of the bacteria suspension into the oropharynx of anesthetized mice causes reflexive aspiration, which results in pneumonia. With this model, one can examine the pathogenesis of pneumonia-causing pathogens and new treatments to combat these diseases.

Pathogen Profile of Patients with Sepsis in Internal Medicine, Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung 2013

Background : Sepsis is a continuous disease which begins with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), seen in association with a large number of clinical conditions. These include infectious insults that produce SIRS, such as pancreatitis, ischemia, multiple traumas and tissue injury, hemorrhagic shock, immunemediated organ injury, and the exogenous administration of such putative mediators of the inflammatory process as tumor necrosis factor and other cytokines. A frequent complication of SIRS is the development of organ system dysfunction, including such well-defined clinical conditions as acute lung injury, shock, renal failure, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Hence, this study was conducted to identify the pathogen profile that often causes sepsis. Methods : A retrospective study was performed to 152 medical records of patients diagnosed as sepsis from Internal Medicine Department Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital from January 2013 to December 2013. The variables observed from the medical records were age, sex, comorbidity, main infection, culture sample, type of gram bacteria, resistant bacteria, and antibiotic susceptibility test. After data collection was completed, the data were analyzed using computer. The data were presented in percentage. Results : Sepsis in male was higher than female. Highest comorbid was chronic kidney disease (CKD). The main infection was health care acquired pneumonia (HCAP). Highest pathogen that caused sepsis was Escherichia coli and highest multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) was extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) Escherichia coli. Conclusions : The most common pathogen that causes sepsis is Escherichia coli. [AMJ.2016;3(2):200–5] DOI: 10.15850/amj.v3n2.785

New diagnostic methods for pneumonia in the ICU

Pneumonia leading to severe sepsis and critical illness including respiratory failure remains a common and therapeutically challenging diagnosis. Current clinical approaches to surveillance, early detection, and conventional culture-based microbiology are inadequate for optimal targeted antibiotic treatment and stewardship. Efforts to enhance diagnosis of community-acquired and health care-acquired pneumonia, including ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), are the focus of recent studies reviewed here. Newer surveillance definitions are sensitive for pneumonia in the ICU including VAP but consistently underdetect patients that are clinically shown to have bacterial VAP based on clinical diagnostic criteria and response to antibiotic treatment. Routinely measured plasma biomarkers, including procalcitonin and C-reactive protein, lack sufficient precision and predictive accuracy to inform diagnosis. Novel rapid microbiological diagnostics, including nucleic-acid amplification, mass spectrometry, and fluorescence microscopy-based technologies are promising approaches for the future. Exhaled breath biomarkers, including measurement of volatile organic compounds, represent a future approach. The integration of novel diagnostics for rapid microbial identification, resistance phenotyping, and antibiotic sensitivity testing into usual care practice could significantly transform the care of patients and potentially inform significantly improved targeted antimicrobial selection, de-escalation, and stewardship.

Clinical metagenomics for the management of hospital- and healthcare-acquired pneumonia.

The increasing burden of multidrug-resistant bacteria affects the management of several infections. In order to prescribe adequate antibiotics, clinicians facing severe infections such as hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) need to promptly identify the pathogens and know their antibiotic susceptibility profiles (AST), which with conventional microbiology currently requires 24 and 48 h, respectively. Clinical metagenomics, based on whole genome sequencing of clinical samples, could improve the diagnosis of HAP, however, many obstacles remain to be overcome, namely the turn-around time, the quantification of pathogens, the choice of antibiotic resistance determinants (ARDs), the inference of the AST from metagenomic data and the linkage between ARDs and their host. Here, we propose to tackle those issues in a bottom-up, clinically driven approach.

Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma with multiple metastases to the right posterior knee complicated by paraneoplastic hypercalcemia.

In this report, we describe the case of a 46-year-old male who presented with a three-month history of progressive intermittent pain over the right posterior knee. Magnetic resonance imaging showed soft tissue masses over the right popliteal fossa. Surgery was performed, and histological examination revealed the mass to be a sarcomatoid carcinoma of poor differentiation. Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography showed FDG uptake in the lungs and in the right para-aortic and popliteal regions. On the basis of the morphological and immunohistochemical features of the specimens, the patient’s condition was diagnosed as a pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma with multiple metastases. Systemic chemotherapy was initiated with paclitaxel and cisplatin. The patient then developed paraneoplastic hypercalcemia and ultimately succumbed to healthcare-acquired pneumonia. The results of this rare case indicate that pulmonary pleomorphic carcinomas respond poorly to combination chemotherapy with paclitaxel and cisplatin. The firm mass in the popliteal fossa that was situated behind the knee was considered to be a Baker cyst; however, the possibility of malignant metastatic sarcomas, such as pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma, should be considered in the differential diagnosis. In conclusion, we emphasize that pretherapeutic examinations should be the basis for the diagnosis of a mass lesion at either an unusual or usual site.

Tigecycline in the treatment of infections from multi-drug resistant gram-negative pathogens

This observational retrospective study aims to present early experience with tigecycline (TIG) in the treatment of infections due to multi-drug resistant (MDR) microorganisms. Adult patients included, received TIG for >5 days either as monotherapy (M group) or as presumed active monotherapy (PAM group). In the PAM group, all co-administered antimicrobial(s) were resistant in vitro against the targeted pathogen(s) or had been clinically and microbiologically failing after >or=5 days of therapy despite in vitro susceptibility. Forty-five patients (35 in ICU) were treated for 28 Acinetobacter baumannii and 23 Klebsiella pneumoniae infections [21 ventilator-associated and healthcare-acquired pneumonia (VAP/HCAP), 10 bloodstream infections (BSI) and 14 surgical infections (SI)]. Successful overall clinical outcome was 80%, i.e. 81.8% in M group, 78.3% in PAM group, 90.5% in VAP/HCAP, 80% in BSI, 64.3% in SI and 85% in the cases with septic shock. Superinfections from Enterobacteriaceae inherently resistant to tigecycline occurred in 31.8% of M and 13% of PAM group (p<0.001). TIG represents a promising option in infections from MDR pathogens, however, further clinical experience is required.

372: Nursing Home-Acquired Pneumonia: Demographics, Outcomes and Antibiotic Usage

Pneumonia is a leading cause of hospitalization and mortality among the elderly in nursing homes with an estimated 1.9 million episodes by 2010. NHAP pathogens are not well defined; however, the IDSA and ATS in 2005 recommend treatment in NHAP like health care-acquired pneumonia. Despite its prevalence, little is known regarding NHAP pts admitted through the ED. Our objective is to investigate the demographics, outcomes and appropriate use of antibiotics (ABX) in NHAP. A retrospective chart review of ED nursing home patients with a final diagnosis of pneumonia was performed at 2 large hospitals. Data was abstracted pre and post the IDSA guidelines. Data abstraction followed the guidelines of Gilbert and Lowenstein. Patient demographics, test results, length of stay, (LOS), treatment and final outcomes were abstracted. Data was analyzed with student t test.

Community-acquired pneumonia: updates in assessment and management.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a significant health condition. Knowledge of the clinical presentation and treatment of CAP are important for critical care nurses as up to 20% of patients with CAP require hospitalization and in-patient management. Patients with severe CAP requiring intensive care unit (ICU) treatment often require aggressive management including mechanical ventilation and multisystem organ support. This article presents an overview of CAP, including the presentation of typical and atypical CAP, clinical findings, and the essentials of management. Treatment differences between CAP and healthcare-acquired pneumonia and nursing implications are also highlighted.