Biomedical subjects

F R Cockerill

Publications and source records attributed to F R Cockerill.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMed1987

Role of bronchoalveolar lavage in the assessment of opportunistic pulmonary infections: utility and complications.

We prospectively evaluated the diagnostic role of bronchoalveolar lavage in the assessment of opportunistic pulmonary infections and the incidence of associated complications in 100 immunocompromised patients during a 9-month period. Bronchoalveolar lavage was useful in detecting the presence of Pneumocystis carinii, viruses, fungi, bacteria, and mycobacteria in the lower respiratory tract. P. carinii was diagnosed by bronchoalveolar lavage in 17 patients and by open-lung biopsy in 1. Other organisms detected by lavage, lung biopsy, or both included viruses (eight patients), fungi (four patients), bacteria (six patients), and mycobacteria (three patients). Of the 100 patients studied, 33 had infectious agents detected in the lung; in 6 of these patients, more than one organism was present. Bronchoalveolar lavage detected the infectious organisms in 30 of the patients, in many of whom an open-lung biopsy was likely avoided because of the lavage studies. Although no major complications of bronchoalveolar lavage were noted in this critically ill population, five patients did require short-term mechanical ventilation after bronchoscopy. When correctly used, bronchoalveolar lavage is a safe and useful procedure for the assessment of immunocompromised subjects with suspected opportunistic pulmonary infections.

Bacterial Infections↗

PubMed1987

Antiviral agents.

Amantadine is well established as the preferred antiviral agent for the prophylaxis of influenza A and may also be beneficial therapeutically when used early in the course of the disease. Idoxuridine is applicable only in the treatment of herpetic keratitis. Currently, acyclovir is the most effective agent for the treatment of herpes simplex and varicella-zoster virus infections. Ribavirin has recently been released for use in aerosol form for severe respiratory syncytial virus infections that occur in infants and young children. Vidarabine, which previously was the drug of choice in the treatment of severe herpetic infections, has now been replaced by the more effective acyclovir. Ganciclovir, an experimental agent, has shown promise against cytomegalovirus infections in patients who have undergone kidney or liver transplantation, but its effects are only temporary in patients who have undergone bone marrow transplantation and patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who have cytomegalovirus infections.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1987

Tetracyclines, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, and clindamycin.

The tetracyclines are effective in the treatment of Chlamydia, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and rickettsial infections and may also be used for gonococcal infections in patients unable to tolerate penicillins. These drugs may cause gastrointestinal irritation, photo-toxic dermatitis, diarrhea, vestibular damage, and hepatotoxicity in pregnant women. Chloramphenicol is used primarily for anaerobic infections, Haemophilus influenzae meningitis, and typhoid fever. The most important toxic effect of chloramphenicol is bone marrow suppression, which can be dose related or idiosyncratic. Erythromycin is the drug of choice for the treatment of infections caused by M. pneumoniae, Legionella species, group A beta-hemolytic streptococci, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The frequency of serious untoward effects associated with the use of erythromycin is low; epigastric distress may occur. Clindamycin is active against Bacteroides fragilis and other anaerobic microorganisms. Pseudomembranous enterocolitis has developed in as many as 10% of patients taking this drug. The use of clindamycin should be discontinued promptly if diarrhea occurs.

Bacterial Infections↗

PubMed1987

Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.

The antimicrobial combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole is active in vitro against a variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Clinically, it is useful for treatment and prophylaxis of various infections of the genitourinary tract and certain infections of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole by itself or in combination with other antimicrobial agents is indicated for most Nocardia asteroides infections. It is the antimicrobial agent of choice for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. The drug is relatively nontoxic in patients who do not have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and it is available in oral and intravenous forms. The native compounds and the metabolites of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole are excreted primarily in the urine. When the creatinine clearance decreases to less than 30 ml/min, the dosage of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole should be adjusted.

Bacterial Infections↗

PubMed1987

Laboratory methods for the diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis: clinical importance of the lysis-centrifugation blood culture technique.

Disseminated histoplasmosis, an uncommon disease that is usually fatal if not treated, is being recognized with increasing frequency in immunosuppressed patients. We retrospectively reviewed the laboratory methods used to establish the diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis in 28 patients examined at our institution. Tissue stains provided the initial diagnosis in 13 of the patients (46%). Serologic tests (complement fixation or immunodiffusion) were positive in 25 patients (89%); the frequencies of positive serologic results were similar in immunocompetent and in immunosuppressed patients. Blood cultures were positive in 20 of the patients (71%) and provided the initial diagnosis in 7 (25%); 5 of these 7 cases (71%) were detected with use of the lysis-centrifugation method. Furthermore, the recovery time for this blood culture method was less than that for a conventional blood culture method (brain-heart infusion biphasic technique). The lysis-centrifugation blood culture technique is an important laboratory method for the diagnosis of disseminated histoplasmosis.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

Transient fungemia in acute pulmonary histoplasmosis: detection by new blood-culturing techniques.

Transient fungemia has been thought to occur with acute pulmonary histoplasmosis in humans, but this has never been confirmed. We report two cases of acute pulmonary histoplasmosis in which transient fungemia was detected by the lysis-centrifugation blood-culturing technique. Both patients had self-limited acute pulmonary histoplasmosis, and neither was treated with antifungal therapy. Follow-up evaluation at three years and at 17 months disclosed no evidence of active pulmonary or disseminated disease. Transient Histoplasma capsulatum var. capsulatum fungemia may occur with acute pulmonary histoplasmosis. Fungemia may be prevented or arrested by an intact immune system or by other factors not yet known.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1987

Comparison of Du Pont Isolator and Roche Septi-Chek for detection of fungemia.

The rapid detection of fungemia in hospitalized patients is imperative, particularly for those who are immunocompromised. Our laboratory compared the Roche Septi-Chek with the Du Pont Isolator for the recovery of fungi from blood. Of 23,586 matched pairs of blood cultures, 199 were positive. The Isolator detected 178 (89.4%) and the Septi-Chek detected 119 (59.7%) of all positive isolates. The mean recovery time for the Isolator and Septi-Chek was 2.2 and 4.9 days, respectively. The Isolator detected fungemia earlier than the Septi-Chek did and was the only culture system positive in 83% of 53 patients, whereas the Septi-Chek system yielded the same results in only 13% of the patients. The Isolator provides a more rapid and sensitive method for the recovery of fungi from blood.

Blood↗

PubMed1986

Polymicrobial cholangitis and Kaposi's sarcoma in blood product transfusion-related acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Before presenting to the Mayo Clinic, a 24-year-old white woman had received 35 transfusions of blood products over a 72-hour period in February 1981. Two and one half years later, the diagnosis of polymicrobial cholangitis (Cryptosporidium, Candida albicans, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) was established. Further evaluation demonstrated profound helper T lymphocyte suppression, disseminated Mycobacterium avium-intracellular infection with mycobacteremia, and Kaposi's sarcoma of lymphoid tissue, confirming a diagnosis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This case represents an unusual infectious complication of AIDS. Additionally, this is believed to be the first report of Kaposi's sarcoma occurring in a patient with AIDS associated with blood product transfusion.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1986

Comparison of clindamycin, metronidazole, and penicillin for the treatment of experimental infections in mice caused by beta-lactamase-producing Bacteroides intermedius.

Turbid saline suspensions (0.35 ml, approximately 10(9) organisms) of a strain of beta-lactamase-producing Bacteroides intermedius were injected subcutaneously into the right groin of ICR male mice. Therapeutic intraperitoneal doses of clindamycin, metronidazole, or penicillin were administered 4 hr later, and thereafter at successive 8-hr intervals for a total of 12 doses. Necropsy with culture of the infection site was performed 4 hr after the final dose. None of 10 clindamycin-treated animals and none of 10 metronidazole-treated animals developed abscesses, and all cultures taken from the injection sites were sterile. Eight of 10 (80%) penicillin-treated animals developed subcutaneous abscesses; B. intermedius was recovered in pure cultures from all abscesses at necropsy. Nine of 10 (90%) untreated control animals inoculated with the same beta-lactamase-producing B. intermedius strain developed abscesses, all of which were culture-positive. The data indicate that treatment with clindamycin and metronidazole prevented the formation of subcutaneous abscesses in mice inoculated with a beta-lactamase-producing strain of B. intermedius. On the other hand, penicillin failed to prevent the formation of abscesses, 80% of which grew the inoculated organism.

Abscess↗

PubMed1985

Pulmonary disease in the immunocompromised host. 1.

With few exceptions, pulmonary complications in the immunocompromised host will proceed to death unless the clinician intercedes. The differential diagnosis of diffuse pulmonary disease in this setting includes (1) infection, most commonly from opportunistic organisms; (2) recurrence or extension of the basic underlying disease process to involve the lungs; (3) adverse pulmonary reaction to drugs; (4) a new, unrelated disease process such as cardiac pulmonary edema or pulmonary emboli; and (5) any combination of these categories. Up to a third of these patients have two or more complications, such as pneumonitis from two different opportunistic organisms or an opportunistic infection and a drug-induced pulmonary complication. An understanding of the host defense that is compromised enables the clinician to narrow the differential diagnosis. The most common types of impairment of defense mechanisms are reductions in the number of granulocytes, B-lymphocytes, or T-lymphocytes, and not uncommonly, two or all three of these types of cells are involved. Impairment of each of these cell types is associated with an increased frequency of infection by a particular group of organisms. Consequently, the clinician can be somewhat selective if empiric therapy is being considered. In the immunocompromised patient, most pulmonary complications, including drug-induced pulmonary disease and pulmonary emboli, are associated with fever that mimics an infection. Up to 25% of the pulmonary complications in these patients are noninfectious.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1985

Pulmonary disease in the immunocompromised host (2).

In this second segment of our article on pulmonary disease in the immunocompromised host (ICH), we review the infections associated with pulmonary infiltrates in the ICH and the diagnostic approaches for both infectious and noninfectious conditions. Although certain immunologic defects may predispose patients to specific infectious agents, virtually any infectious agent can cause pulmonary disease in any ICH. Physical findings and laboratory observations may give the clinician clues about probable causes of infection. Nevertheless, invasive diagnostic procedures-in particular, open-lung biopsy-are often necessary to diagnose pulmonary disease in the ICH. The relatively new technique of bronchoalveolar lavage is useful in diagnosing pulmonary disease in the patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Further studies are necessary to confirm the reliability of this procedure as a diagnostic method in the ICH who does not have AIDS.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1985

Open lung biopsy in immunocompromised patients.

From January 1978 through December 1980, ninety-five immunocompromised patients underwent diagnostic open lung biopsy (OLB) at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. A specific causative diagnosis was made in 77 patients (81%); 12 patients (13%) had more than one specific causative diagnosis. Of the 77 patients with a specific causative diagnosis, 52 patients (68%) had infections, 19 patients (24%) had malignant pulmonary disease, 12 patients (15%) had cytotoxic lung disease, ten patients (13%) had interstitial fibrosis (not related to cytotoxins), and one patient (1%) had vasculitis. In 36 (47%) of the 77 patients with a specific causative diagnosis, the diagnosis was made, by frozen sections or stains, within three hours of OLB. In 35 additional patients (45%), the diagnosis was established within 24 hours. Twelve patients (13%) had minor complications of OLB; no deaths were attributed to the OLB procedure.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1984

Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole-resistant Nocardia asteroides causing multiple hepatic abscesses. Successful treatment with ampicillin, amikacin, and limited computed tomography-guided needle aspiration.

Hepatic abscesses are rarely encountered in disseminated Nocardia infections. Sulfonamides alone or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole is often efficacious in treating infections caused by Nocardia asteroides. In vitro resistance of N. asteroides to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole is occasionally present. The patient described in this report had disseminated nocardiosis initially manifesting as multiple subcapsular hepatic abscesses. In vitro susceptibility studies demonstrated resistance to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Subsequent treatment with ampicillin and amikacin in conjunction with computed tomography-guided needle aspiration of several of the hepatic abscesses, surgical drainage of a right pleural empyema, and eventual discontinuation of use of corticosteroids resulted in cure of the infection.

Amikacin↗

PubMed1984

Disseminated sporotrichosis with Sporothrix schenckii fungemia.

The laboratory diagnosis and therapeutic management of disseminated sporotrichosis can present many problems to the clinical laboratory and the clinician. Culturing of clinical specimens is necessary because the direct microscopic examination of specimens for Sporothrix schenckii often is not useful. Although this organism has been recovered from many specimen sites, recovery from blood has been rare. This report summarizes data concerning recovery of S. schenckii from clinical specimens and the use of serologic and fungal antimicrobial susceptibility data. It appears to be the first antemortem recovery of S. schenckii from blood reported since 1909.

Amphotericin B↗

PubMed1984

Empiric therapy with moxalactam alone in patients with bacteremia.

Moxalactam was administered (20 mg/kg intravenously every 8 hours) as single-drug empiric antimicrobial therapy to 63 patients with bacteremia who were neither neutropenic nor immunosuppressed. Six patients (10%) had microorganisms that were susceptible to moxalactam and resistant to all other antimicrobial agents tested; two patients (3%) had microorganisms that were resistant to moxalactam and other agents tested. Of these 63 patients, 47 (75%) were cured with moxalactam therapy. Nine patients (14%) had breakthrough bacteremia while receiving other antimicrobial therapy and were cured subsequently with moxalactam therapy alone. The two major risk factors for failure of moxalactam therapy were polymicrobial bacteremia and an extrahepatic intra-abdominal source of infection; these two conditions frequently coexisted. Six of nine patients with polymicrobial bacteremia died. Superinfection (one pseudomonal, five enterococcal) was responsible for 6 of the 16 treatment failures. Enterococcal superinfection occurred exclusively among patients who had received relatively prolonged therapy with moxalactam for extrahepatic intra-abdominal infection, especially intraabdominal abscess. These five patients died, and postmortem examination showed that enterococcal superinfection was the major cause of death in all. Mild, reversible adverse reactions associated with use of moxalactam occurred in 14 of the 63 patients (22%). None had clinically overt bleeding. The use of moxalactam alone seems to be safe and effective and a cost-effective alternative empiric antimicrobial therapy for most patients with bacteremia who are not immunosuppressed or neutropenic and who are not at high risk of having Pseudomonas or polymicrobial bacteremia.

Abdomen↗

PubMed1984

Epidemic of pulmonary blastomycosis (Namekagon fever) in Wisconsin canoeists.

Epidemics of pulmonary blastomycosis have rarely been reported. The following epidemic occurred in a Minnesota family and several of their acquaintances after a canoeing trip in northwestern Wisconsin. The common exposure area was most likely a campsite, located along the upper reaches of the Namekagon River. The Namekagon River Valley is a known endemic area of Namekagon fever (blastomycosis) in dogs. Approximately one month after returning home, five of the eight members of the group had positive direct microscopic examinations and cultures of Blastomyces dermatitidis from their sputa, as well as abnormalities on their chest roentgenograms. Among these five patients, four were symptomatic, with fever, cough, and pleuritic chest pain. Of the three others, one had pleuritic chest pain with a transient lung infiltrate, the second was asymptomatic with a transient lung infiltrate, and the third was asymptomatic with a normal chest roentgenogram. Results of acute serologic tests (complement fixation and immunodiffusion) were negative in all five patients evaluated. None of the patients received antifungal therapy. Follow-up five years after the epidemic revealed that all eight were in excellent health, and none had evidence of continuing pulmonary or extrapulmonary disease.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Antiviral agents.

Only a few agents with antiviral activity are available for routine clinical use. Amantadine hydrochloride is effective in the prophylaxis of influenza A. In addition, accumulated evidence shows that amantadine has some therapeutic effect when used early in the course of an influenza A infection. Idoxuridine and adenine arabinoside have found application as topical agents in the treatment of herpes simplex keratitis. Adenine arabinoside has also been approved for the treatment of disseminated infections due to herpes zoster and herpes simplex. Acyclovir sodium has been approved as a topical agent in the treatment of limited mucocutaneous herpes simplex viral infections in immunosuppressed patients and of initial episodes of genital herpes simplex infections in patients with normal immunity. Ribavirin, an experimental agent with a wide spectrum of activity in vitro, has not fulfilled expectations in clinical trials. Because of the eradication of smallpox, methisazone has become obsolete as a prophylactic agent in smallpox.

Acyclovir↗

PubMed1983

Traveling toothpicks.

Although most ingested foreign bodies usually pass through the gastrointestinal tract uneventfully, such objects infrequently cause intestinal perforation and may even result in death. Herein we present five cases of gastrointestinal perforation caused by toothpicks. In one of these patients, the toothpick penetrated the inferior vena cava and caused overwhelming bacteremia and death. A major factor that contributes to the inability to identify foreign objects such as toothpicks in food is the wearing of dental plates, which precludes normal palatal sensitivity. Patients should be alerted to the potential hazards associated with the use of toothpicks.

Adult↗