• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 2009

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence rate of bacteremia following toothbrushing with toothpastes composed of several antibacterial agents and compare the results with the conventional oral hygiene maintaining methods in orthodontic patients. Methods: This clinical study included 100 adult orthodontic patients who were divided into 4 groups. Each group comprised of 25 patients, wearing fixed orthodontic appliances. In the first group, bacteremia was assessed after toothbrushing without using any toothpaste. In the second group, a 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate mouthrinse was used before brushing with no toothpaste. In the third group, subjects brushed with a commonly used toothpaste which did not include an additional antimicrobial agent. The fourth experimental group used toothpaste which included tea tree oil, clove oil, peppermint oil and bisabolol as antimicrobial elements. Pre- and post-brushing blood samples were obtained using a strict aseptic technique. All samples were microbiologically evaluated using blood culture bottles. Results: Toothbrushing in orthodontic patients yielded to an increase in the occurrence rate of bacteremia when using normal toothpaste or no toothpaste at all. Conclusions: The use of chlorhexidine mouthwash before toothbrushing, and brushing with antimicrobial toothpaste did not show a statistically significant difference in preventing the occurrence of bacteremia (p > 0.05).

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.83-89
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• 2020

Purpose: Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a common pathogen in pediatric patients and often causes acute pharyngotonsillitis and skin and soft tissue infections. In addition, bacteremia with significant morbidity and mortality can also occur. This study was conducted to describe the clinical manifestations and treatment outcomes of pediatric GAS bacteremia patients in Korea. Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective study. From January 2000 to December 2016, pediatric patients aged ≤18 years with GAS bacteremia were studied. Clinical manifestations, underlying diseases, intensive care unit stay, and antibiotic susceptibility were evaluated. Results: During the study period, 19 patients had GAS bacteremia. Ten (53%) were male, and the median age was 7.4 years (range, 0.3-17.4 years). Fourteen (74%) had chronic underlying diseases. Five (26%) were immunocompromised (leukemia and chronic kidney disease). Eight (42%) had lymphatic or vascular malformations, of which seven had lesions with signs of inflammation. Three (16%) developed pneumonia, and two of them received ventilator care. The 30-day mortality rate was 6% (1/19), and the cause of death was bacteremic pneumonia. All GAS isolates were sensitive to penicillin. Fifteen (79%) were sensitive to both erythromycin and clindamycin. Conclusions: This study identified various clinical manifestations of GAS bacteremia. GAS should be considered as a potential pathogen that can cause bacteremia and result in a serious clinical course.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2017

Purpose: We investigated the effectiveness of the delta neutrophil index (DNI) for the prediction of neonatal bacteremia and compared it to other indices. Methods: A total of 146 pediatric patients, aged less than 31 days, admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Wonju Severance Christian Hospital with fever before or during hospitalization were enrolled in this study. We divided the patients into two groups based on the existence of neonatal bacteremia and performed blood culture tests on both groups. We examined white blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count, DNI, platelet count, and C-reactive protein (CRP) test. We used a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to evaluate their diagnostic significance. Results: Seventy-seven patients were diagnosed with neonatal bacteremia. The mean gestational age was 38.74 weeks and the mean birth weight was 3.20 kg. The mean gestational age of the control group was 33.34 weeks and the mean birth weight was 2.20 kg. Causative organisms of bacteremia included Staphylococcus aureus (n=22), Staphylococcus epidermidis (n=18), and Streptococcus agalactiae (n=8). Both DNI and CRP were significantly associated with neonatal bacteremia after adjusting for gestational age and birth weight. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for DNI (0.70) was higher than that for CRP (0.68). Conclusions: The DNI can be used to effectively predict neonatal bacteremia. The prediction will be more accurate if DNI is used in conjunction with other indices. In future, it will be useful to compare DNI with other indices and investigate its relationship with prognosis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.716-722
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• 2005

Purpose : A full view of the spectrum of all bacterial diseases in healthy children is essential to the establishment of public health priorities. Accurate information on the relative importance of the various pathogens in terms of the age of the affected patients, the site of infection and the case fatality rate are valuable to the clinician in choosing antimicrobial treatments. Methods : Fifty-nine episodes of bacteremia were analysed. Data were collected at Ilsan Paik Hospital from January 2000 to December 2003. Analysis of each collected episode included isolating pathogen from blood culture, diagnosis, hospital course, isolating pathogens from other tissue sites, and studying results of antimicrobial sensitivity tests. Results : Fifty-nine cases of community-acquired bacteremia were reviewed. The most common pathogen was Staphylococcus aureus(11 cases, 18.6 percent), followed by Salmonella(10 cases, 16.9 percent), E. coli(7 cases, 11.9 percent), Streptococcus pneumoniae(five cases, 8.5 percent), Streptococcus viridans(5 cases 8.5 percent). The most common diagnosis was bacteremia without an indentified focus(61 percent), followed by meningitis(12 percent), bacteremia with enteritis(10.2 percent) and bacteremia with urinary tract infection(8.5 percent). Salmonella was still an important causative agent of bacteremia. The relative importance of Haemophilus influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae was lower than in other studies. The most common organism responsible for bacteremia without an identified focus was Staphylococcus aureus. The case-fatality was 3.4 percent for all cases of bacteremia. Conclusion : We reviewed the etiology of community-acquired bacteremia. These data may be useful in the establishment of public health priorities and serve as a reference for selection of antibiotics in the empirical therapy of suspected invasive bacterial infection.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.23 no.4 s.43
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• pp.661-669
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to investigate a possibility of chronic or intermittent bacteremia in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed orthodontic appliance. Orthodontic patients who had been injured by orthodontic appliances and/or suffered from gingivitis were selected. They had not taken any antibiotics for 1 month. The number of subjects were 21 including 7 males and 14 females. Blood samples of the subjects were cultured and, IgG, IgA and IgM levels in the serum were quantified. The author found following results. 1. No bacterial growth was found in 7-day culture of all the samples. 2. The immunoglobulin levels in serum were confined in normal range. 3. This study could not deny the possibility of transient bacteremia episode undergoing orthodontic treatment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.184-194
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• 1999

Backgrounds : The advent of penicillin has led to the marked reduction in the mortality from pneumococcal bacteremia, however, the mortality is still relatively high in this post-antibiotic era. Actually the prevalence of infection due to penicillin-resistant penumococci is increasing worldwide, and it is especially high in Korea due to irrelevant use of antibiotics. So, the high mortality of pneumococcal sepsis might be related to the emergence of penicillin-resistant strains, however, many other antibiotics, which eradicate pneumococci effectively, are available in these days. This has led us to suspect the role of penicillin-resistance in the high mortality rate. In this study, we evaluated the effect of penicillin resistance on the mortality of patients with penumococcal bacte remia. Methods: The study population consisted of 50 adult patients with penumococcal bacteremia who were admitted between Jan, 1990 and July, 1997. Medical records were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Most of the patients (96%) had underlying diseases. The most common local disease associated with pneumococcal bacteremia was pneumonia (42%), which was followed by spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (14%), cholangitis (10%), meningitis (8%), liver abscess (4%), pharyngotonsillitis (4%), sinusitis (2%) and cellulitis (2%). While the overall case-fatality rate in this study was 24%, it was higher when peumococcal bacteremia was associated with pneumonia (42%) or meningitis (50%). The rate of penicillin resistance was 40%, which was increased rapidly from 1991. The rate of penicillin resistance was significantly higher in patients with the history of recent antibiotics use and hospitalization within 3 months respectively. The clinical manifestations, that is, age, severity of underlying diseases, nosocomial infection, associated local diseases, and the presence of shock or acute renal failure were not statistically different between the patients with penicillin-resistant and -sensitive pneumococcal bacteremia. The mortality of patients infected with penicillin-resistant pneumococci was not statistically different from those with penicillin-sensitive pneumococcal bacteremia. Conclusion: Penicillin resistance is not associated with high mortality in adult patients with pneumococcal bacteremia. As the overall mortality is high, active penumococcal vaccination is recommended in patients with high risk of infection.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.84-87
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• 2005

Hafnia alvei is a gram-negative facultatively anaerobic bacillus that is rarely isolated from human specimens and is rarely considered to be pathogenic. It has been associated with gastroenteritis, pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia, and nosocomial wound infections. But, only one case of extraintestinal H. alvei infection was documented in Korea to our knowledge. A 74-years old women with bronchial tuberculosis and cerebral infarct was admitted to out hospital via the internal medicine department due to the use of anti-tuberculotic agents. The two consecutive blood cultures yielded H. alvei. The organism was susceptible to all antimicrobial agents tested, except ampicillin and amoxacillin-clavulanic acid. The patients was treated with ceftriaxone and recovered effectively.

• Kosin Medical Journal
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.422-430
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• 2018

Leuconostoc species are Gram-positive coccobacilli and are used in dairy products and are intrinsically resistant to vancomycin. Leuconostoc infections are rare in humans, usually occurring in immune-compromised patients. We describe 6 patients with Leuconostoc bacteremia at Dong-A university hospital between 1990 and 2015. One isolate (L. lactis) was identified to species level using 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. All patients had underlying diseases and 5 patients underwent procedures that interrupted the normal integumentary defense. Four patients died within 30 days after being identified as carrying Leuconostoc species.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.105-109
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• 2022

The treatment of invasive infections caused by multidrug-resistant vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) is challenging, particularly in pediatric patients with underlying medical conditions. Newer antibiotics used to treat VRE infections in pediatric patients are insufficiently studied. This report presents the case of a 6-month-old infant who underwent heart-lung transplantation and was successfully treated with a combination of daptomycin and tigecycline for recurrent VRE bacteremia shortly after the discontinuation of linezolid.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 2022

This report describes a case of coinfection of Sphingomonas paucimobilis meningitis and Listeria monocytogenes bacteremia in a 66-year-old immunocompetent female patient. The patient had undergone traditional procedures, including acupuncture, which possibly caused the coinfection. During treatment with susceptible antibiotics for bacterial meningitis, she developed hydrocephalus on the third day. Consequently, the patient recovered with a mild neurological deficit of grade 4 motor assessment in both upper and lower extremities at discharge. S. paucimobilis and L. monocytogenes are rare pathogens in developed countries, occurring only during environmental outbreaks. S. paucimobilis meningitis is rarely reported. Hence, the various presentations of S. paucimobilis meningitis and the antibiotic regimen for its treatment are hereby reported, in addition to a review of other similar reported cases. This case is a possible traditional procedure-related infection. Appropriate oversight and training should be emphasized regarding preventive measures of this kind of infection. A team approach with neurologists and neurosurgeons is imperative in treating patients with hydrocephalus-complicated meningitis.