Seroepidemiology of Klebsiella pneumoniae was determined for 1000 nonrepetitive K. pneumoniae isolates collected by a medical center in Taiwan during 1993-1997. Of these, 630 isolates (63%) were from community-acquired infections; the rest were from hospital-acquired infections. The isolates were serotyped according to capsular antigen by countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis. About 77% were typeable. Serotypes K1 and K2 accounted for 21.7% and 9.3% of the isolates, respectively, followed by K57 (5.1%), K54 (4.2%), K21 (3. 3%), and K16 (3%). The frequency of serotype K1 among bacteremic isolates (30.8%) far exceeded that reported by other investigators worldwide. Molecular typing of random K1 isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed several different pulsotypes, suggesting a nonclonal spread. This study indicates that a Klebsiella vaccine developed in Europe is not optimal for use in Taiwan because it does not contain the most predominant serotypes-K1, K54, and K57.

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Although the clinical correlates of the reference antifungal susceptibility test results in hematogenous and deep-seated Candida infection are still controversial, we evaluated the clinical correlates of this test in deepseated Candida infections in non-AIDS patients. Thirty-two non-AIDS patients with hematogenous or deepseated Candida infections were treated with intravenous fluconazole (400 mg a day), and the clinical outcomes were evaluated. Coexisting bacterial infections were treated with appropriate antibiotics, superinfection or reinfection was excluded, inadequate fluconazole therapy was avoided, and essential surgical intervention was performed. The MICs of fluconazole for these 32 Candida isolates were determined according to the M27-A procedure approved by the National Committee on Clinical Laboratory Standards. MICs were interpreted as susceptible (<8 g/ml), dose-dependent susceptible (16 to 32 g/ml), and resistant (>64 g/ml) according to the criteria of the M27-A standard. The success rates were 79% (19 of 24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 59 to 93%) in the susceptible category, 66% (4 of 6; 95% CI, 19 to 95%) in the dose-dependent susceptible category, and 0% (0 of 2; 95% CI, 0 to 84%) in the resistant category. We conclude that the clinical correlation of the reference antifungal susceptibility test results is high in hematogenous and deep-seated Candida infections.

Within a 5-year period, 64 patients were hospitalized at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital of Keelung (Taiwan) with bacteremia due to non-typhi Salmonella. Fifteen were < 24 weeks of age, 17 were between 6 months and 5 years of age, and 32 were > 18 years of age. An analysis of these patients revealed several significant differences between pediatric and adult patients. For instance, 87.5% of the adults but none of the children were debilitated because of severe underlying disease. Mortality was high (40.6%) among adults, but no deaths were observed among the children. Diarrhea occurred significantly more frequently among children (68.7%) than among adults (15.6%), while the contrary was observed in regard to chills, which occurred in 31% of adults and none of the children. It is concluded that bacteremia due to non-typhi Salmonella presents with different clinical features in adults than it does in children; furthermore, in adults the disease can be considered life-threatening, but in children it is associated with a favorable prognosis.

To prevent scabies, proper management of the nursing home setting, including adequate cleaning of the contaminated clothing, bedding and equipment, in combination with treating all suspected scabies patients, and contact isolation are important and necessary.