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L Masala

Publications and source records attributed to L Masala.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Secular trends in nosocomial candidaemia in non-neutropenic patients in an Italian tertiary hospital.

A retrospective study was performed in an Italian tertiary hospital to evaluate trends in candidaemia between 1992 and 2001, and to compare the characteristics of episodes of fungaemia between 1992--1997 and 1998--2001. In total, 370 episodes of candidaemia were identified, with an average incidence of 0.99 episodes/10 000 patient-days/year (range 0.49--1.29 episodes). On an annual trend basis, the overall incidence was essentially stable in surgical and medical wards, but decreased in intensive care units (ICUs) (p 0.0065). The average use of fluconazole was 37.9 g/10 000 patient-days/year (range 21.4--56.1 g), and did not change significantly during the 10-year period. Nearly two-thirds of patients were in ICUs at the onset of candidaemia, but none was neutropenic in either study period. Candida albicans remained the predominant species isolated (53.8% vs. 48.1%), followed by Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis, the distribution of which did not change significantly. The 30-day crude mortality rate was essentially similar (44% vs. 35%) in both study periods. Thus the incidence of nosocomial candidaemia, although high in this institution, decreased among critically-ill patients during the 10-year period. This finding seemed to be related to an improvement in infection control practices, particularly regarding the prevention of intravascular catheter-related infections in ICUs. Although the overall use of fluconazole was considerable, no increase in azole-resistant non-albicans Candida spp. was detected.

Antifungal Agents↗
PubMed2003

Nosocomial cluster of Candida guillermondii fungemia in surgical patients.

A nosocomial cluster of Candida guillermondii fungemia ( n=5 episodes) occurred in a surgical unit over a 2-week period. The five infected patients had received parenteral nutrition through central lines and three of them had catheter-related candidemia. All of the isolates were resistant to 5-flucytosine (MIC >32 microg/ml) and they had strictly related fingerprints, as generated by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis. Although no isolate of Candida guillermondii was recovered from other clinical, surveillance or environmental samples, nosocomial spread of this yeast stopped following the reinforcement of infection control measures. Candida guillermondii may require an intravascular foreign body to cause fungemia, but the outbreak reported here shows that it can be transmitted nosocomially and cause epidemics.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Resistance of Streptococcus pyogenes to erythromycin and related antibiotics in Italy. The Italian Surveillance Group for Antimicrobial Resistance.

A survey of antimicrobial resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes, performed within the framework of a national surveillance program, has revealed a dramatic increase in resistance of S. pyogenes to erythromycin in most areas of Italy. In virtually all the centers that provided data for 3 consecutive years, the incidence of erythromycin-resistant strains increased twofold to 20-fold from 1993 to 1995 and was greater than 30% in five of the 14 centers participating in the study. The clonality of erythromycin-resistant isolates was studied in 15 strains isolated from different patients at the Institute of Microbiology of Verona University (Verona). The features of the Verona isolates and the substantially different rates of erythromycin and clindamycin resistance observed in most centers suggest that the spread of different resistance genes in multiple clones might be occurring throughout the country.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

Competence for genetic transformation in encapsulated strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae: two allelic variants of the peptide pheromone.

The nucleotide sequence of comC, the gene encoding the 17-residue competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) of Streptococcus pneumoniae (L. S. Havarstein, G. Coomaraswamy, and D. A. Morrison, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:11140-11144, 1995) was determined with 42 encapsulated strains of different serotypes. A new allele, comC2, was found in 13 strains, including the type 3 Avery strain, A66, while all others carried a gene (now termed comC1) identical to that originally described for strain Rx1. The predicted mature product of comC2 is also a heptadecapeptide but differs from that of comC1 at eight residues. Both CSP-1 and CSP-2 synthetic peptides were used to induce competence in the 42 strains; 48% of the strains became competent after the addition of the synthetic peptide, whereas none were transformable without the added peptides.

Alleles↗