Introduction: Spondylodiscitis (SD) is an uncommon but important infection. The aim of this work was to study the risk factors, bacteriological features, clinical, laboratory and radiological findings of SD, and to shed light on the initial treatment. Methodology: A total of 107 patients who underwent treatment for SD were evaluated. The diagnosis of SD was defined by clinical findings, complete blood count, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum tube agglutination (STA) test, Ziehl-Neelsen staining, culture, histopathology, and radiological methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans. Results: Of the 107 cases, ranging between 17 to 83 years of age, 64 (59.8%) were male. Twenty-seven (25.2%) patients had diabetes mellitus. Laboratory investigations revealed elevated CRP in 70 (65%) patients, elevated ESR in 65 (61%) patients, and elevated white blood cell (WBC) counts in 41 (38.3%) patients. Thirty-six (33.6%) patients were identified as having brucellar SD, and 5 (4.7%) patients were identified as having tuberculous SD. A total of 66 (61.6%) patients were determined to have pyogenic SD. The most frequently isolated microorganism was Staphylococcus aureus. Antibiotic therapy was given intravenously to all pyogenic SD patients. Conclusions: The incidence of SD has increased as a result of the higher life expectancy of older patients with chronic debilitating diseases and the increase of spinal surgical procedures. In patients with low back pain, SD should be considered as a diagnosis. For effective treatment, it is important to determine the etiology of the disease.

Objective: Immunosuppressive therapies, especially tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors, are frequently used in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). These therapies can induce viral reactivation in concurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV)-or hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive patients. On the other hand, the prevalence of HBV and HCV infections is not exactly known in RA and AS patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of HBV and HCV infections in RA and AS patients.Material and Methods: A group of 1517 RA and 886 AS consecutive patients followed by six different rheumatology outpatient clinics of Turkey were recruited in this study. The prevalence of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and HCV antibody (anti-HCV) were retrospectively investigated.Results: The mean age was 49.0±13.2 years in RA and 37.3±10.5 years in AS patients. HBsAg prevalence was 35 (2.3%) in RA and 27 (3%) in AS patients. Anti-HCV prevalence was 17 (1.1%) and 10 (1.1%), respectively. In the RA group, both HBsAg and anti-HCV positive patients were older than negative ones (p<0.05), and the highest prevalence was found in those 60-69 years (p<0.05).

Objectives: To evaluate seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in southeast Turkey. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of patients admitted to the Diyarbakır Training and Research Hospital during February 2010 and July 2011. The study population consisted of patients who gave blood and tested for HBV and HCV. Data were collected from the database of our hospital. Data were analyzed using SPSS program. Results: A total of 43.131 patients tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were included in this study. 4.472 patients (10.4%) were positive for HBsAg (6.8% male, 3.6% female, p<0.05). 323 (1.2%) of 28.276 patients, who underwent anti-HCV testing, were positive for anti-HCV. 381 (13.1%) of 2.899 HBsAg-positive patients were positive for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). Conclusion: Although similar to that in the other regions of Turkey, the seroprevalence of hepatitis B is still high. Community awareness about the transmission and prevention of hepatitis B infection should be strengthened by health education.

Background:The prognostic value of blood culture testing in the diagnosis of bacteremia is limited by contamination.Objectives:In this multicenter study, the aim was to evaluate the contamination rates of blood cultures as well as the parameters that affect the culture results.Materials and Methods:Sample collection practices and culture data obtained from 16 university/research hospitals were retrospectively evaluated. A total of 214,340 blood samples from 43,254 patients admitted to the centers in 2013 were included in this study. The blood culture results were evaluated based on the three phases of laboratory testing: the pre-analytic, the analytic, and the post-analytic phase.Results:Blood samples were obtained from the patients through either the peripheral venous route (64%) or an intravascular catheter (36%). Povidone-iodine (60%) or alcohol (40%) was applied to disinfect the skin. Of the 16 centers, 62.5% have no dedicated phlebotomy team, 68.7% employed a blood culture system, 86.7% conducted additional studies with pediatric bottles, and 43.7% with anaerobic bottles. One center maintained a blood culture quality control study. The average growth rate in the bottles of blood cultures during the defined period (1259 - 26,400/year) was 32.3%. Of the growing microorganisms, 67% were causative agents, while 33% were contaminants. The contamination rates of the centers ranged from 1% to 17%. The average growth time for the causative bacteria was 21.4 hours, while it was 36.3 hours for the contaminant bacteria. The most commonly isolated pathogens were Escherichia coli (22.45%) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) (20.11%). Further, the most frequently identified contaminant bacteria were CoNS (44.04%).Conclusions:The high contamination rates were remarkable in this study. We suggest that the hospitals’ staff should be better trained in blood sample collection and processing. Sterile glove usage, alcohol usage for disinfection, the presence of a phlebotomy team, and quality control studies may all contribute to decreasing the contamination rates. Health policy makers should therefore provide the necessary financial support to obtain the required materials and equipment.

Objective: In this study; patients admitted to Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital were evaluated retrospectively according to age groups for hepatitis A virus seroprevalence.Methods: Anti HAV IgG and Anti HAV IgM test results of patients who admitted to our hospital for various reasons between January 2010 and December 2014 were evaluated. HAV IgG and HAV IgM antibodies were studied via chemiluminescence immune method in Advia Centaur XP (Siemens, Germany) system following the manufacturer's instructions.Results: 97.30% of the samples was positive for Anti HAV IgG and 0.87 of the samples was positive for Anti HAV IgM. Anti HAV IgM positivity was 10% in the 0-10 years age group and 3.09% in the 11-20 age group. We detected advancing age has been found to reduce the incidence of disease and most of the patients encountered disease in childhood and gained immunity. Conclusion:As a result, in this study we found the HAV seroprevalence in the largest hospital of our province. We thought we could contribute; preventive measures, immunization program studies and determination of vaccine efficacy studies with the light of this data.