Rabin Saba

Hepatobiliary Fascioliasis: Sonographic and CT Findings in 87 Patients During the Initial Phase and Long-Term Follow-Up

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to describe the initial and long-term imaging findings in hepatobiliary fascioliasis. CONCLUSION Most patients with fascioliasis have typical hepatobiliary imaging findings. It is important to know that residual fibrotic or necrotic foci may remain for years after cure. Long-term complications are rare in fascioliasis, and malignancy or cirrhosis related to the disease has not been observed.

Daily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections in a Turkish university hospital

BackgroundMany studies associated nosocomial infections with increased hospital costs due to extra days in hospital, staff time, extra investigations and drug treatment. The cost of antibiotic treatment for these infections represents a significant part of hospital expenditure. This prospective observational study was designed to determine the daily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections per infected adult patient in Akdeniz University Hospital.MethodsAll adult patients admitted to the ICUs between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2003 who had only one nosocomial infection during their stay were included in the study. Infection sites and pathogens, antimicrobial treatment of patient and its cost were recorded. Daily antibiotic costs were calculated per infected patient.ResultsAmong the 8460 study patients, 817 (16.6%) developed 1407 episodes of nosocomial infection. Two hundred thirty three (2.7%) presented with only one nosocomial infection. Mean daily antibiotic cost was

Device-associated nosocomial infection rates in Turkish medical-surgical intensive care units.

89.64. Daily antibiotic cost was

Hand Hygiene Compliance in a Hematology Unit

99.02 for pneumonia,

Aspergillus alliaceus and Aspergillus flavus co-infection in an acute myeloid leukemia patient

94.32 for bloodstream infection,

The Place and the Efficacy of Infectious Disease Consultations in the Hospitals

94.31 for surgical site infection,

The Effect of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor in the Treatment of Escherichia coli Peritonitis With or Without Ceftriaxone in a Nonneutropenic Rat Model

52.37 for urinary tract infection, and

Recommendations for Risk Categorization and Prophylaxis of Invasive Fungal Diseases in Hematological Malignancies: A Critical Review of Evidence and Expert Opinion (TEO-4)

162.35 for the other infections per patient. The treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections was the most expensive infection treated. Piperacillin-tazobactam and amikacin were the most prescribed antibiotics, and meropenem was the most expensive drug for treatment of the nosocomial infections in the ICU.ConclusionsDaily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections is an important part of extra costs that should be reduced providing rational antibiotic usage in hospitals.

Characteristics and Analysis of Risk Factors for Mortality in Infective Endocarditis

OBJECTIVE To describe the incidence of device-associated nosocomial infections in medical-surgical intensive care units (MS ICUs) in a university hospital in Turkey and compare it with National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system rates. DESIGN Prospective surveillance study during a period of 27 months. Device utilization ratios and device-associated infection rates were calculated using US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NNIS definitions. SETTING Two separate MS ICUs at Akdeniz University Hospital, Antalya, Turkey. PATIENTS All patients were included who presented with no signs and symptoms of infection within the first 48 hours after admission. RESULTS Data on 1,985 patients with a total of 16,892 patient-days were analyzed. The mean overall infection rate per 100 patients was 29.1 infections, and the mean infection rate per 1,000 patient-days was 34.2 infections. The rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was 20.76 infections per 1,000 ventilator-days, the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection was 13.63 infections per 1,000 urinary catheter-days, and the rate of catheter-associated bloodstream infection was 9.69 infections per 1,000 central line-days. The most frequently isolated pathogens were Pseudomonas species among patients with ventilator-associated pneumonias (35.8% of cases), Candida species among patients with catheter-associated urinary tract infections (37.1% of cases), and coagulase-negative staphylococci among patients with catheter-associated bloodstream infections (20.0% of cases). CONCLUSION We found both higher device-associated infection rates and higher device utilization ratios in our MS ICUs than those reported by the NNIS system. To reduce the rate of infection, implementation of infection control practices and comprehensive education are required, and an appropriate nationwide nosocomial infection and control system is needed in Turkey.

Human fascioliasis: MR imaging findings of hepatic lesions

Transmission of pathogens from the hands of health care workers (HCWs) is the main cause of nosocomial infections, and hand hygiene is the single most important procedure to prevent it. At present, little is known about the adherence of HCWs to hand hygiene procedures in hematology units, where the patients are at high risk for acquiring hospital infections. In a prospective observational study, two observers monitored the hand hygiene compliance of HCWs in a hematology unit during 30-min observation periods distributed randomly during the daytime over 2 months. The prevalence of compliance with hand hygiene was 26% on 638 observed occasions. The noncompliance was higher among nurses [odds ratio (OR) 3.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.85–6.70] and other HCWs (OR 1.72, 95% CI 0.98–3.02) compared to physicians. The compliance rate differed from 4 to 60% depending on the activity. The lowest compliance rate (4%) was observed before patient care and the highest (60%) was after insertion of invasive devices. When we classified the occasions for hand hygiene into ‘before’ and ‘after’ activities, the compliance rates were 9 and 36%, respectively (OR 5.6, 95% CI 3.4–9.0). In conclusion, noncompliance with hand hygiene was high in this hematology unit, especially among nurses and before activities. Variations with the type of HCW and activity suggest that targeted educational programs and feedback control may be useful.