Objective. To analyze specific clinical findings, underlying disorders, treatments, outcomes, and prognostic factors for reactive hemophagocytic syndrome (RHS) in systemic disease. Methods. Data were collected using standardized forms as part of a French national survey. Adult cases without an underlying malignancy, diagnosed on bone marrow or lymph node biopsy, were included. Results. Twenty-six cases (7 men, 19 women, mean age 47.4 ؎ 17.7 years) were studied. Systemic diseases included systemic lupus erythematosus (n ‫؍‬ 14), rheumatoid arthritis (n ‫؍‬ 2), adult onset systemic Still's disease (n ‫؍‬ 4), polyarteritis nodosa (n ‫؍‬ 2), mixed connective tissue disease (n ‫؍‬ 1), pulmonary sarcoidosis (n ‫؍‬ 1), systemic sclerosis (n ‫؍‬ 1), and Sjö gren's syndrome (n ‫؍‬ 1). RHS occurred in 2 distinct clinical settings in the course of systemic disease. RHS was associated with an active infection in 15 patients (bacterial infections, 10 cases; viral, 3 cases; tuberculosis, 1 case; and aspergillosis, 1 case) and with the onset of a systemic disease alone in 9 cases. Isolated RHS occurred in 2 cases. The overall mortality rate was 38.5%. Two factors were associated with mortality: corticosteroid treatment at the time of RHS diagnosis, and thrombocytopenia (odds ratio ‫؍‬ 28, 95% confidence interval ‫؍‬ 13.3؊238.9). Conclusions. When RHS occurs in the course of an active systemic disease (situation only reported in cases of systemic lupus or adult Still's disease), immunosuppressive therapy should be used. In contrast, when RHS is present concomitantly with an active infection, immunosuppressive therapy needs to be lowered and antibiotic therapy should be instituted.

In an analysis of data from the CESAME cohort in France, patients with anal and/or perianal Crohn's disease have a high risk of anal cancer, including perianal fistula-related cancer, and a high risk of rectal cancer.

The proportion of group D streptococcal infective endocarditis (IE) (predominantly due to Streptococcus gallolyticus) and the incidence of colorectal cancer are higher in France than in most European countries. We assumed that this could be explained by a high group D streptococci (GDS) fecal carriage rate. The aims of this study were to re-assess the GDS fecal carriage rate in France and its relationship with colorectal cancer. Consecutive adult subjects who were to undergo a complete colonoscopy were invited to participate. GDS were searched in subjects' stools before their colonoscopy using biomolecular techniques. Colonoscopic findings were sorted into four subgroups: normal colonoscopy, non-tumoral lesions, benign tumors, and premalignant/malignant tumors. GDS fecal carriages were calculated overall and in each subgroup and compared. The data from 259 subjects were analyzed. GDS were identified in the feces of 12 subjects, with the following distribution: S. lutetiensis (n = 9), S. pasteurianus (n = 2), and S. gallolyticus (n = 1). This accounted for an overall GDS fecal carriage rate of 4.6 %. The GDS fecal carriage rate was 6 % in case of normal colonoscopy, 1.3 % in case of non-tumoral lesions, 3.2 % in case of benign tumors, and 11 % in case of premalignant/malignant tumors. These four percentages were not statistically different. The GDS fecal carriage rate was lower than expected, which did not confirm our working hypothesis. Most strains belonged to S. bovis biotype II, while S. gallolyticus was found only once. These findings suggest that different GDS play different roles in the etiopathogenesis of IE and colorectal cancer.

No abstract

The aim of this study was to validate, in a population of infants and children under 3.5 years of age, a diagnosis model that provides a figure for the probability of bacterial meningitis (pABM), based on four parameters collected at the time of the first lumbar tap: the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein level, CSF polymorphonuclear cell count, blood glucose level, and leucocyte count. The best cut-off value for distinguishing between bacterial and viral meningitis was previously found to be 0.1, since 99% of meningitides associated with pABM<0.1 were viral. The charts of 103 consecutive children aged 0.1-3.5 years who had been hospitalised for acute meningitis were reviewed. Each case was sorted into the following three categories for aetiology: bacterial (positive CSF culture, n=48); viral (negative CSF culture and no other aetiology, and no antibiotic treatment after diagnosis, n=36); and undetermined (fitting neither of the first two definitions, n=19). After computation of pABM values in each case, the predictive values of the model were calculated for different pABM cut-off values. The results confirmed that the best cut-off pABM value was 0.1, for which the positive and negative predictive values in this model were 96% and 97%, respectively. Only one case of bacterial meningitis (lumbar tap performed early in an infant with meningococcal purpura fulminans with negative CSF culture) was associated with a pABM value of <0.1. This model is quite reliable for differentiating between bacterial and viral meningitis in children under 3.5 years of age, and it may enable physicians to withhold antibiotics in cases of meningitis of uncertain aetiology.