Purpose Streptococcus pyogenes cause invasive infections with variable incidence over time. In 2023, an increase in invasive S. pyogenes infections caused by emm- types 1 and 12 was reported globally. In Southern Sweden an increase in S. pyogenes emm 12 severe infections was also noted and we set out to determine if this increase was caused by a single genetic sublineage. Methods Data on severe S. pyogenes infections notified...

Background and Purpose Studies have documented that continuous infusion is superior to bolus infusion in providing longer time with drug concentration above the minimal inhibitory concentration (T > MIC). This porcine study compared steady-state penicillin concentrations in oropharyngeal and frontal sinus tissues following intravenous bolus and continuous administration. Experimental Approach Twelve pigs were randomized to rec...

Purpose We aimed to investigate the incidence and clinical features of Streptococcus dysgalactiae peripartum infections (SDPI), and to investigate the distribution of emm- types in relation to disease severity and the genetic relatedness of isolates from hospital clusters. Materials and methods Patients with growth of S. dysgalactiae in a genital or wound culture, collected between January 2014 and September 2020 at department...

Drug depot technologies that release chemotherapeutics locally in cancerous tissues present an intriguing strategy. This study aimed to assess the feasibility, delivery capacity, and therapeutic efficacy of a thin needle injectable doxorubicin-loaded carbohydrate-ester-based (CarboCell) depot technology. CarboCell was evaluated in three experimental setups: (A) In non-tumorous mice, release kinetics were evaluated 24 h and 48...

Purpose Blood culture collection with all bottles filled from a single venipuncture (single-sampling strategy, SSS) is increasingly used. More data on the effects of SSS on blood culture contamination is needed. After combined implementation of SSS and initial specimen diversion (ISDT) in our region, we evaluated the proportion of sampling events with at least four bottles, with growth of relevant pathogens and with growth of...

Purpose S. aureus bacteremia (SAB) is a common and severe infection with high mortality and morbidity. The clinical relevance of the finding of concurrent S. aureus bacteriuria (SABU) is debated. The goal of this study was to analyze whether a concurrent SABU is associated with complicated SAB, infective endocarditis (IE) and mortality. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study, reviewing medical charts of all episodes...

Background/aim Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium cause human infections including bacteraemia and infective endocarditis (IE). Only few studies describing non- faecalis and non- faecium Enterococcus (NFE) infections have been conducted. We aimed to describe the incidence, prognosis, and focus of infection of bacteraemia with NFE. Methods This retrospective population-based study included all episodes of patients h...

Multiple episodes of Enterococcus faecalis bacteremia (EfsB) may indicate a relapse and be due to an undiagnosed infective endocarditis (IE). The aims were to study the clinical presentation of patients with EfsB with focus on the risk of recurrent infection and IE, identify potential improvements of the management, and to investigate whether E. faecalis isolates from different episodes in the same patient were identical. In a...

Patients with cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) and Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) are at risk of having infective endocarditis (IE). The objectives were to describe a Swedish population-based cohort of patients with CIED and SAB, to identify risk factors, and to construct a predictive score for IE. Patients over 18 years old in the Stockholm Region identified to have SAB in the Karolinska Laboratory databa...

Cutibacterium is a genus often considered a contaminant when present in blood cultures, but it can also cause severe infections, especially related to implanted foreign materials. We investigated the incidence and features of patients with true Cutibacterium infection. Patients with positive Cutibacterium blood cultures between the years 2015–2020 in southern Sweden were identified through microbiology records and medical reco...

Non-β-hemolytic streptococci (NBHS) cause infective endocarditis (IE) and a short blood culture time to positivity (TTP) is associated with risk of IE in bacteremia with other pathogens. In this retrospective population-based cohort study, we investigate if TTP is associated to IE or mortality. Of 263 episodes with NBHS bacteremia, 28 represented IE and the median TTP did not differ significantly between episodes with IE (15 h...