Since its discovery in England and France in 1986, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus has increasingly become a major nosocomial pathogen worldwide. Enterococci are prolific colonizers, with tremendous genome plasticity and a propensity for persistence in hospital environments, allowing for increased transmission and the dissemination of resistance elements. Infections typically present in immunosuppressed patients who have received multiple courses of antibiotics in the past. Virulence is variable, and typical clinical manifestations include bacteremia, endocarditis, intra-abdominal and pelvic infections, urinary tract infections, skin and skin structure infections, and, rarely, central nervous system infections. As enterococci are common colonizers, careful consideration is needed before initiating targeted therapy, and source control is first priority. Current treatment options including linezolid, daptomycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, and tigecycline have shown favorable activity against various vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus infections, but there is a lack of randomized controlled trials assessing their efficacy. Clearer distinctions in preferred therapies can be made based on adverse effects, drug interactions, and pharmacokinetic profiles. Although combination therapies and newer agents such as tedizolid, telavancin, dalbavancin, and oritavancin hold promise for the future treatment of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus infections, further studies are needed to assess their possible clinical impact, especially in the treatment of serious infections.

BackgroundIn 2010 falls were responsible for approximately 80 % of disability stemming from unintentional injuries excluding traffic accidents in adults 50 years and over. Falls are becoming a major public health problem in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where populations are ageing rapidly.MethodsNationally representative standardized data collected from adults aged 50 years and over participating in the World Health Organization (WHO) Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave 1 in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa are analysed. The aims are to identify the prevalence of, and risk factors for, past-year fall-related injury and to assess associations between fall-related injury and disability. Regression methods are used to identify risk factors and association between fall-related injury and disability. Disability was measured using the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule Version 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0).ResultsThe prevalence of past-year fall-related injuries ranged from 6.6 % in India to 1.0 % in South Africa and was 4.0 % across the pooled countries. The proportion of all past-year injuries that were fall-related ranged from 73.3 % in the Russian Federation to 44.4 % in Ghana. Across the six countries this was 65.7 %. In the multivariable logistic regression, the odds of past-year fall-related injury were significantly higher for: women (OR: 1.27; 95 % CI: 0.99,1.62); respondents who lived in rural areas (OR: 1.36; 95 % CI: 1.06,1.75); those with depression (OR: 1.43; 95 % CI: 1.01,2.02); respondents who reported severe or extreme problems sleeping (OR: 1.54; 95 % CI: 1.15,2.08); and those who reported two or more (compared with no) chronic conditions (OR: 2.15; 95 % CI: 1.45,3.19). Poor cognition was also a significant risk factor for fall-related injury.The association between fall-related injury and the WHODAS measure of disability was highly significant (P<0.0001) with some attenuation after adjusting for confounders. Reporting two or more chronic conditions (compared with none) was significantly associated with disability (P<0.0001).ConclusionsThe findings provide a platform for improving understanding of risk factors for falls in older adults in this group of LMICs. Clinicians and public health professionals in these countries must be made aware of the extent of this problem and the need to implement policies to reduce the risk of falls in older adults.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0390-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The efficacy of cefazolin with high-inoculum methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) infections remains in question due to therapeutic failure inferred as being due to an inoculum effect (InE). This study investigated the local prevalence of a cefazolin InE (CInE) and its association with staphylococcal gene types among MSSA isolates in the Chicago area. Four medical centers in Chicago, IL, contributed MSSA isolates. Cefazolin MICs (C-MIC) were determined at 24 h by the broth microdilution method using a standard inoculum (SI; 5 × 10 CFU/ml) and a high inoculum (HI; 5 × 10 CFU/ml). The CInE was defined as (i) a ≥4-fold increase in C-MIC between SI and HI and/or (ii) a pronounced CInE, i.e., a nonsusceptible C-MIC of ≥16 μg/ml at HI. PCR was used to amplify the gene, followed by agarose gel electrophoresis and sequencing to determine the gene type. Approximately 269 MSSA isolates were included. All but one isolate were susceptible to cefazolin at SI, and 97% remained susceptible at HI. A total of 196 isolates (73%) were positive, with the types led by gene type C (40%). CInE was seen in 45-positive isolates (23%), with 44 (22%) presenting a ≥4-fold increase in C-MIC (SI to HI) and 5 (3%) a pronounced CInE. Four of the five met both definitions of CInE, two of which expressed the type A gene. The prevalence of a pronounced CInE associated with the type A gene from MSSA isolates in Chicago is low. Our predilection for cefazolin use, even early in the management of hospitalized MSSA infections, is tenable.

RATIONALE: Intravenous penicillin is the antibiotic of choice for streptococcal bacteremia, which results in up to 48% mortality. The impact of reported penicillin allergy remains unclear in this patient population. Our study compares the clinical outcomes of streptococcal bacteremia in matched patients with (exposed) versus without (unexposed) reported penicillin allergy. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study comparing exposed to unexposed adult patients admitted to Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia from 1/1/2014 to 12/31/2015. RESULTS: In the cohort (n5331), the prevalence of reported penicillin allergy was 12%. We compared 15 exposed to 16 unexposed patients with matching demographics and clinical presentation. The exposed group more frequently reported allergy to other antibiotics than the unexposed group (33% vs 0%, p50.02); were treated with more antibiotic classes (median of 3 versus 2 classes, p50.05), had a shorter mean duration of antibiotic treatment (10 versus 20 days, p50.04), developed more acute kidney injury (46.7% versus 31.3%, P > 0.05), and had more complications of infection (including endocarditis, metastatic infection, septic shock; 60% versus 43.8%; P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that patients who report penicillin allergy are more likely to report concurrent allergies to other drug(s) and receive more classes of antibiotics. The reduced duration of antibiotic treatment may indicate more cautious prescribing behavior in this group. The study is currently underpowered to detect differences in other clinical outcomes.Abstracts AB29 SATURDAY