Month: July 2015

How do I interpret heavy growth of Candida sp. from sputum of my patient with COPD and pneumonia?

FA Manian MD, MPH, Leave a comment

Chances are our patient has been on antibiotics and is being treated with either inhaled and/or systemic corticosteroids which may all contribute to yeast overgrowth in the respiratory and GI tracts.   Fortunately, in the absence of severe immunocompromised state such as neutropenia,  Candida sp. in  respiratory specimens (including those obtained by bronchoscopy) is only rarely associated with pneumonia (1,2).   So no antifungal therapy seems to be indicated in our patient, unless oral candidiasis (e.g. either thrush or the atrophic variety) is also simultaneously present.  Time to examine the mouth!

1. El-Ebiary M, Torres A, Fabregas N, et al. Significance of the isolation of Candida species from respiratory samples in critically ill, non-neutropenic  patients.  Am J Resp Crit Care Med 1997;156:583-590

2. Rello J, Wsandi ME, Diaz E, et al. The role of Candida sp. isolated from bronchoscopic samples in non-neutropenic patients. Chest 1998;114:146-49

How do I interpret heavy growth of Candida sp. from sputum of my patient with COPD and pneumonia?

When should I consider treating my hospitalized patients with asymptomatic bacteruria (ASB)?

FA Manian MD, MPH, , , , Leave a comment

The great majority of hospitalized patients with ASB do not need treatment with antibiotics.

In fact, there are only a couple of conditions for which treatment of ASB is indicated:  pregnant women (due to risk of pyelonephritis and low-birth infants/pre-term delivery) and before  GU instrumentation, such as transurethral resection of the prostate or other GU procedures for which mucosal bleeding is anticipated (1).  

So for the great majority of our hospitalized patients, including the elderly, diabetic women, institutionalized residents of long-term facilities, and spinal cord injury patients treatment of ASB is not indicated.  Even in the case of renal transplant patients, supportive evidence for the  use of prophylactic antibiotics in ASB is so far lacking (2).  

The estimated prevalence of ASB varies widely in the population,  with rates of 15-20% among community-dwelling women > 70 yrs of age, and 5-10% for men>65 yrs for community-dwelling men. In long-term care facility residents, 25-50% of women, 15-40% of men, and 100% of those with chronic indwelling catheters have ASB (3).  

So keep these rates in mind before attributing patient’s symptoms to ASB (ie, patient’s presentation may have nothing to do with urine findings).  It’s also worth emphasizing that pyuria accompanying ASB is not an indication for treatment.

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References

1. Nicolle LE, Bradley S, Colgan R, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria in adults. Clin Infect Dis 2005;40:643-54.  https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/40/5/643/363229

2. Coussement J, Abramowicz D. Should we treat asymptomatic bacteriuria after renal transplantation? Nephrol Dial Transplant 2013;0:1-3. https://academic.oup.com/ndt/article/29/2/260/1913512

3. Nicolle LE. Asymptomatic bacteriuria in older adults. Geriatrics & Aging 2003;6:24-28. https://www.healthplexus.net/files/content/2003/October/0609bacteriuria.pdf

 

Disclosures: The listed questions and answers are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of Mercy Hospital-St. Louis or its affiliate healthcare centers, Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School or its affiliated institutions. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate information, the author is far from being perfect. The reader is urged to verify the content of the material with other sources as deemed appropriate and exercise clinical judgment in the interpretation and application of the information provided herein. No responsibility for an adverse outcome or guarantees for a favorable clinical result is assumed by the author. Thank you!

When should I consider treating my hospitalized patients with asymptomatic bacteruria (ASB)?

My 70 year old male patient with recent hip fracture has developed fevers with sterile pyuria. How do I interpret the sterile pyuria in this patient?

FA Manian MD, MPH, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Although historically sterile pyuria (SP) has been associated with genitourinary (GU) tuberculosis, there are many more common causes to consider in the hospitalized patient (1-3).    

Recent antibiotic exposure (within past 2 weeks) in the setting of UTI is one of the most frequent causes.  Prostatitis is also an often overlooked cause.  Sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis should also be considered in at risk patients. Hospitalized patients with systemic infections outside of the GU tract (e.g. pneumonia, appendicitis, diverticulitis) may also have SP (1-3). High prevalence of SP (>70%) has been reported among patients with appendicitis or diverticulitis (2). 

Non-infectious causes include current or recent catheterization of bladder, urinary stones, stents, GU malignancy, papillary necrosis,  Kawasaki’s disease, autoimmune diseases (eg, SLE) and analgesic nephropathy. 

I would start with repeating the u/a as 50% of sterile pyuria may be transient (3). If repeat u/a still shows pyuria, a prostate exam in our elderly male is indicated to exclude prostatitis. 

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References:

  1. Wise GJ, Schlegel PN. Sterile pyuria. N Engl J Med 372;11:1048-54. https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMra1410052
  2.  Goonewardene S, Persad R. Sterile pyuria: a forgotten entity. Ther Adv urol 2015; 7:295-298.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4549703/ 
  3. Hooker JB, Mold JW, Kumar S. Sterile pyuria in patients admitted to the hospital with infections outside of the urinary tract. J Am Board Fam Med 2014;2&:97-103. https://www.jabfm.org/content/27/1/97.long#T1 

Disclosures: The listed questions and answers are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University, its affiliate academic healthcare centers, or its contributors. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate information, the author is far from being perfect. The reader is urged to verify the content of the material with other sources as deemed appropriate and exercise clinical judgment in the interpretation and application of the information provided herein. No responsibility for an adverse outcome or guarantees for a favorable clinical result is assumed by the author. Thank you!

My 70 year old male patient with recent hip fracture has developed fevers with sterile pyuria. How do I interpret the sterile pyuria in this patient?