Infection

The goal of this observational study is to learn how common infections are in intensive care units (ICUs) around the world and how they are treated. The study will look at all adults in the ICU during a single 24-hour period. The main questions it aims to answer are: * What types of infections and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are most common in ICUs worldwide? * How do resistance patterns affect how participants are treated and how they recover? How are antibiotics used in ICUs, and how do hospitals practice antibiotic stewardship? * What organ support treatments do participants with infections receive? * What are the outcomes of participants with severe infections, including survival at hospital discharge (up to 60 days)? Researchers will compare ICUs across regions and income levels to see how infection patterns, treatments, and outcomes differ around the world. Participants will: * Be counted if they are present in the ICU at any time during the study day. * Have information collected from their medical record about their health, the infection they may have, treatments they receive, and their outcome at ICU and hospital discharge (up to 60 days). Because this is an observational study, participants will not receive any new treatments as part of the study.

This protocol is being established to cover the evaluation of patients with inflammatory and/or infectious diseases which are not covered under previously existing protocols. The purpose of such a protocol is that frequently patients are referred to us with either diagnosed or undiagnosed illnesses which would be of interest to our teaching program or which would serve as a source of patients to subsequently be entered into established, ongoing protocol studies. Such patients will be admitted to the protocol and handled according to accepted medical practice of diagnosis and treatment.

Background: CGD is caused by a gene mutation. For people with CGD, their cells cannot kill germs well, so they can get frequent or life-threatening infections. Researchers want to see if a new procedure can help a person s cells kill germs for a short time. It uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to deliver correct instructions for the gene mutation to the cells. Objective: To test a procedure in which mRNA is added to a person s blood cells. Eligibility: Males aged 18-75 with CGD with a mutation in the gene that makes the protein gp91phox. Design: Participants will be screened with: Medical history Physical exam Blood and urine tests Swab to test for strep throat Some screening tests will be repeated during the study. Participants will be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center hospital for at least 7 days. They will have apheresis. For this, a medicine is injected under their skin to prepare their white blood cells for collection. An IV line is placed into an arm vein. Blood goes through the IV line into a machine that divides whole blood into red blood cells, plasma, and white blood cells. The white blood cells are removed, and the rest of the blood is returned to the participant through an IV line in their other arm. The next day, they will get their mRNA-corrected cells via IV. They will be monitored for 3 more days. After discharge, participants will keep a symptom diary. They will be contacted weekly for one month, and then once a month. They will have a follow-up visit 3 months after the infusion.

Cellulitis is a painful bacterial skin infection commonly seen in Canadian emergency departments. Cellulitis has a negative impact on patients' quality of life and productivity. While this is a bacterial infection, there is evidence inflammation also contributes to the disabling symptoms of pain, redness and swelling. Some studies have suggested that a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as naproxen in addition to antibiotics may control inflammation and speed recovery. However, these studies have had too few patients to tell if there is a true benefit. The investigators are proposing a randomized controlled trial of patients with cellulitis to compare oral naproxen (500 mg twice daily) plus oral antibiotics versus placebo plus oral antibiotics. The investigators will compare the proportion of patients who have an early clinical response (reduction in area of redness ≥20% at 72 hours), cure, treatment failure, adverse events, and hospital admission. If naproxen proves to be superior to placebo, this simple, low-cost intervention will speed time to recovery with less pain for patients, and may potentially reduce treatment failure and time missed from activities. The results of this trial will help inform future cellulitis treatment guidelines.

Aim The investigators aim to investigate if automated insulin delivery systems (AID) improve in-hospital glycemic and clinical outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes compared to standard-of-care with a pen-basal-bolus insulin regimen manually titrated by general staff at Herlev-Gentofte Hospital and a clinical decision support system (GlucoTab) titrating the basal-bolus regimen automatically daily at Graz University Hospital. Population Hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes in non-intensive care units (non-ICU) at medical wards at Copenhagen University Hospitals of Herley-Gentofte (affiliated with Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen) and Medical University Hospital of Graz (N = 92). Design This is an investigator-initiated, two-armed, two-site, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded endpoint (PROBE) trial. Objectives The objective is to determine the glycemic and clinical effects of inpatient AID systems in non-ICU patients with type 2 diabetes. Participants will be randomized in a usual-of-care and an AID arm. Diabetes management will be performed by usual care in the control arm based on a basal-bolus insulin regimen and point-of-care (POC) glucose testing. A continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system (Abbott FreeStyle Libre 3) will be used in all groups for outcome analysis and comparison between the groups. The CGM will be blinded for the control arm, to not interfere with the usual of care because of the higher amount of glucose data. The AID-arm will be managed by an AID system with real-time CGM data transmitted to nursing stations. Outcomes Primary outcome: The primary outcome is the difference in CGM-recorded time in range (TIR) (70-180 mg/dl (3.9-10.0 mmol/l)) between the POC- and the CGM-arm according to the 2023 in-hospital CGM consensus during the entire hospital stay. Secondary outcomes: Outcomes are reported according to the 2023 in-hospital CGM consensus and specified in the protocol during the entire hospital stay, including three levels of time above range (TAR) 180-250mg/dl (10.0-13.9 mmol/l), \>250mg/dl (\>13.9 mmol/l), and \>180mg/dl (\>10.0 mmol/l); three levels of time below range (TBR) 54-70mg/dl (3.0-3.9 mmol/l), \<54mg/dl (\<3.0 mmol/l), and \<70mg/dl (\<3.9 mmol/l); events of hypoglycemia in three levels, 54-68mg/dl (3.0-3.8 mmol/l), \<54mg/dl (\< 3.0 mmol/l), and \<70mg/dl (\<3.9 mmol/l), where the glucose values between the two hypoglycemic events must all be \>70mg/dl (\>3.9 mmol/l) for at least 15 consecutive minutes(1), including prolonged hypoglycemic events (\> 120 minutes), recurrent hypoglycemic events (events preceded by another hypoglycemic event), and recurrent hypoglycemic days (percentage of days with at least one hypoglycemic event on separate days that is preceded by another in-hospital day with hypoglycemia(1)); mean glucose level; standard deviation (SD) of the CGM glucose distribution; coefficient of variation (CV); and insulin doses during hospitalization. Clinical outcomes: The investigator assess the length of hospital stay as calculated from time of admission until discharge; in-hospital mortality; admissions to intensive care unit; any in-hospital-related complications occurring at least one day after randomization and until discharge, as documented and defined by the treating physician in the electronic health record (e.g., acute kidney injurie, sepsis, etc.) Method For the usual-of-care-arm, glucose assessment is done by standard POC glucose testing and insulin is manually titrated by general staff at Herlev-Gentofte Hospital and the glucose assessment is done by standard POC glucose testing and insulin is manually titrated by the GlucoTab system titrating the basal-bolus regimen automatically daily at Graz University Hospital. For the AID-arm, CGM data informs in real time the mylife Ypsopump for automated insulin delivery. Device The investigational device is the AID system, containing of the mylife YpsoPump and the FreeStyle Libre 3 sensor.

This prospective multicenter validation study aimed to evaluate the predictive performance of a previously developed model for MDRGNB infection in ICU patients.

Long-term outcomes in kidney transplantation remain a significant challenge, as complications such as donor-specific antibodies (DSA), antibody-mediated rejection, infections, and cancer increasingly threaten graft and patient survival over time. The development of non-invasive biomarkers to guide the management of therapeutic immunosuppression beyond the first year post-transplantation is therefore a crucial unmet need. Torque Teno Virus (TTV), a non-pathogenic virus with a high prevalence worldwide, has emerged as a promising biomarker in this context. Its replication inversely reflects immune control by T cells, correlating with the depth of therapeutic immunosuppression. Additionally, its slow replication kinetics make TTV DNAemia a useful marker for evaluating patient adherence to immunosuppressive treatments. The TAOIST study tests whether longitudinal monitoring of TTV DNAemia every six months, starting from the second year after transplantation, can guide the personalization of immunosuppressive therapy. The primary endpoint is the time to the first occurrence of complications linked to inadequate immunosuppression, including dnDSA, biopsy-proven rejection, infection, cancer, or graft loss. Secondary objectives include evaluating the acceptability of TTV DNAemia among healthcare professionals and assessing its cost-effectiveness compared to standard care. An ancillary objective examines the link between TTV DNAemia and the immunosuppressant possession ratio (IPR) to explore its potential as a marker of treatment adherence.

This is a prospective, single-center Phase II observational study investigating the predictive value of the "Peripheral(-muscle) Oxygenation and Perfusion Score" (POP-Score), a novel non-invasive composite index, for early detection of infection/inflammation in neonates. The POP-Score combines peripheral muscle oxygenation measured via near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with routinely monitored clinical parameters (heart rate, oxygen saturation, systolic blood pressure, and subcutaneous fat thickness). The study aims to determine the optimal cut-off value of the POP-Score measured within the first 6 hours after birth to predict elevated C-reactive protein (CRP ≥20 mg/L) within 48 hours. Additionally, multi-site NIRS measurements (cerebral, peripheral muscle, intestinal, and flank) will be evaluated to assess their association with inflammation. The study includes term and moderate-to-late preterm neonates (birth weight ≥2000g) with respiratory distress, admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at the Medical University of Graz.

This study aims to ensure that assays that measure drug concentrations are accurate and precise in different matrices when quantified using high performance liquid chromatography -tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The study involves collecting samples of various bodily fluids to quantify antimicrobials, antivirals, oral contraceptives and erectile dysfunction agents. Samples will also be obtained from individuals not receiving these medications for quality control purposes.

Continuous intravenous antibiotic infusion using elastomeric pumps is well established in adult care and has been shown to be effective, safe, and cost-efficient, particularly for beta-lactams and vancomycin. In pediatric outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (p-OPAT), home intravenous treatment is feasible and safe, improves quality of life, and reduces hospital stays and healthcare-associated infections. Elastomeric pumps offer practical advantages, including portability, ease of use, fixed infusion rates, and reduced drug handling, although they are limited by fixed flow rates and drug stability. This prospective study at Tampere University Hospital (Tays) will evaluate the safety and cost-effectiveness of 24-hour continuous antibiotic infusions in children between January 2026 and January 2029. Eligible pediatric patients requiring intravenous antimicrobial treatment and suitable for home care will be included. Indications include serious bacterial infections such as bacteremia, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, neutropenic fever, cystic fibrosis-related infections, and foreign body infections. The study antibiotics are benzylpenicillin, cloxacillin, piperacillin/tazobactam, and vancomycin, administered via CE-approved infusion devices for home use. Children will receive continuous infusion either initially in hospital or directly from the emergency department if appropriate, with treatment duration and dosing comparable to standard intermittent regimens. Outcomes include safety, feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and patient-reported quality of life measured using PedsQL™. The study aims to determine whether continuous infusion can optimize pediatric antimicrobial care and healthcare resource utilization. Results will be published in peer-reviewed international journals.

In this study, patients presenting with acute infections at risk of developing sepsis will be followed in their home setting using wearables that provide (semi-)continue monitoring of vital signs as well as through follow up using a designated smartphone application. This is an innovative pilot study that will examine the potential of transmural care through telemonitoring for the first time in patients at risk for developing sepsis. By allowing for active follow-up of vital parameters in a transmural setting, this project aims to reduce the number of hospitalizations as compared to current practice. Furthermore, we aim to the number of patients referred to the emergency department after a visit at their primary care physician. Thereby, we aim to reduce the healthcare burden, yet providing the ability for rapid intervention in case of detarioration of patients, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality as well as associated costs.

The VPT Safety Trial (VPS) compares two common antibiotic combinations to see how they affect the kidneys of patients in the hospital with serious infections. Both combinations are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The goal is to help doctors know which combination is safer so they can make better choices for their patients.

The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate how early biomarkers of infection and inflammation perform in identifying patients at risk for poor outcome in sepsis and septic shock.

Every country in the world is experiencing growth in both the size and the proportion of older persons. As a result of the changes, the profile and needs of people with medical illnesses have evolved. How care is delivered to patients has to keep pace with these changes, or patients will experience poor care at high cost and not have their needs met. A new model of care has emerged to meet these challenges: Acute Medical Unit. Despite considerable investment and popularity of this model, questions remain: (i) Who benefits most from this care model? (ii) How may these models be most effectively implemented for the best results? (iii) How effective are these models? Singapore is well-placed to answer these questions with its national healthcare system and excellent research institutions. The investigators plan to study how effective the model is by comparing patients with similar profiles exposed to both these care models compared to how hospital care is usually provided, looking for four differences: (i) how long patients stay in hospital, (ii) how often they use the emergency department (iii) quality of health (iv) cost. Additionally, the investigators seek to characterise patterns of health needs for this group of patients.

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the success and safety of administering certain antibiotics (beta-lactams) given in a longer 3-hour infusion to children (0-17 years) who are critically ill and have severe infection. The main question it aims to answer is: Is the longer infusion more effective than the conventional short-term (0.5-hour-long) infusion? Researchers will compare the 3-hour-long infusion group to the 0.5-hour-long infusion group to determine whether the longer infusion can cure the infection earlier and whether it is equally safe. The doses are the same in the two groups. Only the duration differs until the patient receives the antibiotic. Participants will: * be given the required antibiotic drug in a 3-hour-long or in a 0.5 hour-long infusion. * be examined to make sure their blood drug levels are correct. This will require two blood tests. * be treated according to routine care and have examinations and blood tests performed.

The investigators propose a home hospital model of care that substitutes for treatment in an acute care hospital. Limited studies of the home hospital model have demonstrated that a sizeable proportion of acute care can be delivered in the home with equal quality and safety, reduced cost, and improved patient experience.

End stage liver disease or cirrhosis is a major cause of mortality in the United States and the world. Other than targeting the underlying cause, such as alcohol cessation and antiviral therapy, very few medical treatments can change the natural history of cirrhosis. Malnutrition is one of the few potentially modifiable factors that have been associated with cirrhosis severity and poor prognosis. The transition metal copper (Cu) is an essential trace metal that must be acquired from diet. Its metabolism is primarily regulated by the liver in its role as a master regulator of nutrients. In 2019, the investigators reported that Cu deficiency defined by below normal serum or liver concentrations occurred in a wide range of liver disorders and was associated with a severe disease phenotype. Improvement in liver function was observed in 2 of the 3 patients who received Cu supplementation. In 2023, the investigators conducted a longitudinal cohort study utilizing clinical, serum and liver explant tissue data from 183 cirrhosis patients. The investigators showed that Cu deficiency was associated with 2-fold higher infection rate and a more than 3-fold increase in the risk of death compared to patients with normal Cu status. These preliminary findings and the well-established importance of Cu in human health prompted the investigators to design the current pilot randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial to determine the effect of Cu supplementation on Cu dependent biochemical changes, patient safety and patient reported outcomes in cirrhosis.

This study seeks to develop early recognition tools specially designed for children meeting the Phoenix definition and explore implementation science aspects by investigating facilitators and barriers to adopting Phoenix sepsis criteria in clinical practice. This addresses the critical need for systemic, evidence-based approaches to paediatric sepsis identification across diverse healthcare settings in Asia.

The goal of this study is to compare two different ways of dosing cefepime, an antibiotic for very sick patients - the usual approach to dosing or a new dosing method. The new dosing method uses only doses that are available in normal care, but choosing between the different doses is based on more information about the patient's body including their kidney function. The primary purpose of this study is to test how easy it is for healthcare professionals to use the new dosing method and how best to conduct the trial. The study will also assess if the new dosing method helps patients recover faster and reduces side effects.

Blood cultures (BCs) are a blood test to look for an infection. Two problems with the sample collection are contamination by germs outside of the blood and not collecting enough blood in the tube, resulting in unusable samples. Many patients requiring a BC also have a peripheral intravenous catheter ("catheter") but these are not normally used for blood sampling. This means that patients receive many painful needles for both catheter insertion and blood sampling. There is a needle-free blood collection device (PIVO Pro) which can be used with a catheter to collect a blood sample. The goal of the PIVO Trial is to see if using the PIVO Pro for blood culture sample collection will have a lower amount of contamination than the usual method of blood sample collection. Patients 18 and older at 3 emergency departments will be included. Research nurses will look for patients in emergency who need a blood culture sample taken and they will be asked if they want to be involved in the trial. Half of the participants will use the PIVO Pro to take their blood sample and half will have the usual way of collecting blood. Participants do not have to do anything specifically for the trial. Information about the blood collection and results of the blood culture will be collected from the medical records and recorded for the trial.

This clinical trial is designed to evaluate if adding the Karius Spectrum™ plasma test to usual care diagnostic tests, compared to usual care testing alone, among immunocompromised participants presenting with suspected infection in the outpatient setting leads to faster infection diagnosis and treatment. Participants will give a blood sample one time to be used for the testing. Information about the participant's illness and any treatments within 30 days following enrollment will be recorded.

The importance of the study lies mainly in expanding knowledge of the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance in subjects using PrEP, studying for the first time in this population the resistance phenotype in commensal Enterobacterales of the gastrointestinal tract. The data obtained from this study could pave the way for potential surveillance and awareness programs for the critical and conscious use of antimicrobials in PrEP subjects in order to mitigate the problem of antibiotic resistance, which currently represents a real global challenge.

The study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of an absolute procalcitonin (PCT) value-guided antibiotic initiation protocol and a protocol using the kinetics of PCT (the difference between the actual and the previous day value) in hemodynamically stable critically ill patients with suspected new-onset infection on admission or during ICU stay. The main question it aims to answer: * Can the investigators decrease the number of unnecessary AB therapies using the kinetics of PCT insted of using absolute PCT values? * Is it safe to use PCT kinetics together with the clinical picture to guide AB initiation? AB therapy will be initiated according to predefined PCT protocols (Kinetics and Absolute Group). After 72 hours of treatment, an independent multidisciplinary team (infectologist, microbiologist and intensivist) will decide about the necessity of the treatment with all the relevant results in hand.

Septic shock is the most severe form of infection. Currently, an early specific biomarker for septic shock is needed. Remember that shock situations are numerous, not only septic (eg hemorrhagic, cardiogenic...), and also accompanied by a severe pro-inflammatory state that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish from a septic state. Procalcitonin (PCT) is the most studied biomarker but still lacks sensitivity (77%) and specificity (79%). The investigators hypothesize that the Vasn could become this potential new biomarker and would allow a better diagnosis and thus the need or not to treat patients with antibiotics. The laboratory studies suggest a link between Vasn and septic shock. The goal of this project is to measure and compare plasma Vasn concentrations in 2 groups of patients = group 1: septic shock versus group 2: non-septic shock. Briefly, shock is defined as low blood pressure requiring vasopressor agents with confirmed infection (group 1) or without suspected infection such as patients admitted in intensive care unit post cardiac surgery with CBP (group 2). The investigators will also assess patient 28-day mortality to identify Vasn as a potential prognostic biomarker.

Rickettsia2024 is a multicenter, tissue observational, retrospective and prospective cohort study. Enrollment will take place within the outpatient clinics of the Infectious Diseases and Dermatology Unit of the IRCCS AOUBO and, following an infectious disease consultation in the Bologna Metropolitan area, at the Hospitals and CAUs of the Bologna Local Health Authority. Within these UUOOs, biopsy samples from normal clinical practice are performed on patients with strong clinical suspicion of Rickettsia infection: therefore, it will not be necessary to perform any additional samples for the conduct of this study. Samples from the normal diagnostic process are sent to the Microbiology UOC, where they are subjected to various analyses. RT-PCR analyses (commercial or in-house kit) and assay of species-specific IgG antibodies will be performed according to clinical practice. Additional tests will be performed with a commercial kit for retrospective samples and with a home-made method for prospective samples.