Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has spread worldwide, and almost 396 million people have been infected around the globe. Latin American countries have been deeply affected, and there is a lack of data in this regard. This study aims to identify the clinical characteristics, in-hospital outcomes, and factors associated with ICU admission due to COVID-19. Furthermore, to describe the functional status of patients at hospital discharge after the acute episode of COVID-19. Material and methods: This was a prospective, multicenter, multinational observational cohort study of subjects admitted to 22 hospitals within Latin America. Data were collected prospectively. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize patients, and multivariate regression was carried out to identify factors associated with severe COVID-19. Results: A total of 3008 patients were included in the study. A total of 64.3% of patients had severe COVID-19 and were admitted to the ICU. Patients admitted to the ICU had a higher mean (SD) 4C score (10 [3] vs. 7 [3)], p<0.001). The risk factors independently associated with progression to ICU admission were age, shortness of breath, and obesity. In-hospital mortality was 24.1%, whereas the ICU mortality rate was 35.1%. Most patients had equal self-care ability at discharge 43.8%; however, ICU patients had worse self-care ability at hospital discharge (25.7% [497/1934] vs. 3.7% [40/1074], p<0.001). Conclusions: This study confirms that patients with SARS CoV-2 in the Latin American population had a lower mortality rate than previously reported. Systemic complications are frequent in patients admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19, as previously described in high-income countries.

Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is the leading cause of infectious death worldwide. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology of IPD and the impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine-10 (PCV-10) over a 10-year period in Bogotá, Colombia. This was a laboratory-based surveillance study of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from patients with IPD from 82 hospitals over 10 years in Bogotá, Colombia. Data were compared between two periods: 2007-2011 (before the introduction of PCV-10) and 2012-2017 (after the introduction of PCV-10). In total, 1670 patients with IPD were included in the study between 2007 and 2017. Between 2007 and 2011, the most common serotypes were 14, 1, 6B, 6A and 3. Between 2012 and 2017, the most common serotypes were 19A, 3, 14 and 1. A decrease in the incidence of IPD, particularly in children aged 0-4 years, was noted after the introduction of PCV-10. Importantly, this reduction in incidence was not observed in patients aged ≥50 years. The IPD burden in Bogotá remained stable between 2007 and 2017. The incidence of IPD decreased in children but not in older adults. The introduction of PCV-10 led to a change in the most prevalent serotypes to serotypes that are not included in PCV-10.

La miocarditis es una enfermedad inflamatoria del miocardio. Las infecciones virales son la causa más común, aunque también puede deberse a reacciones de hipersensibilidad y de etiología autoinmunitaria, entre otras.El espectro clínico de la enfermedad es variado y comprende desde un curso asintomático, seguido de dolor torácico, arritmias y falla cardiaca aguda, hasta un cuadro fulminante.El término ‘fulminante’ se refiere al desarrollo de un shock cardiogénico con necesidad de soporte vasopresor e inotrópico o dispositivos de asistencia circulatoria, ya sea oxigenación por membrana extracorpórea o balón de contrapulsación intraaórtico.Cerca del 10 % de los casos de falla cardiaca por miocarditis corresponde a miocarditis fulminante. La miocarditis por influenza se considera una condición infrecuente; no obstante, su incidencia ha aumentado desde el 2009 a raíz de la pandemia de influenza por el virus AH1N1.Por su parte, la miocarditis por influenza de tipo B sigue siendo una condición infrecuente.Se describen aquí dos casos confirmados de miocarditis fulminante por el virus de la influenza B atendidos en un centro cardiovascular, que requirieron dispositivos de asistencia circulatoria mecánica.

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) infections have increased in recent years. Colombia has become an endemic country for this group of microorganisms, and the infections they cause have a serious impact in terms of morbidity and mortality. The early identification of CPE carriers who are admitted to health care centers as patients is necessary to implement adequate isolation and infection control measures to limit the spread of this type of microorganisms in hospitals. Furthermore, treating these infections is a challenging task due to the limited therapeutic alternatives available and the fact that there are only a few studies proving their effectiveness in this setting. Therefore, the objective of the present work is to develop a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for the screening of patients at risk of CPE colonization and the treatment of inpatients with suspected or confirmed infections caused by this type of bacteria through a CPG adaptation process based on the ADAPTE methodology. With this purpose in mind, evidence-informed recommendations for the screening and timely identification of CPE carriers admitted to hospitals are made, as well as for the adequate pharmacological treatment of CPE infections in this context. Taking this into account, the objective of this work is to develop a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for the screening of patients at risk of CPE colonization and for the management of inpatients with suspected or confirmed infections caused by this type of enterobacteriaceae by means of a CPGs adaptation process based on the ADAPTE methodology. With this purpose in mind, evidence-informed recommendations for the screening and timely identification of CPE carriers admitted to hospitals are made, as well as for the adequate pharmacological management of CPE infections in this setting.

Background: Early and adequate antibiotic treatment is the cornerstone of improving clinical outcomes in patients with bloodstream infections (BSI). Delays in appropriate antimicrobial therapy have catastrophic consequences for patients with BSI. Microbiological characterization of multi-drug resistant pathogens (MDRP) allows clinicians to provide appropriate treatments. Current microbiologic techniques may take up to 96 h to identify causative pathogens and their resistant patterns. Therefore, there is an important need to develop rapid diagnostic strategies for MDRP. We tested a modified protocol to detect carbapenemase and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) from positive blood cultures. Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of consecutive patients with bacteremia. We developed a modified protocol using the HB&L^® system to detect MDRP. The operational characteristics were analyzed for each test (HB&L-ESBL/AmpC^® and HB&L-Carbapenemase^® kits). The kappa coefficient, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), likelihood ratios (LR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), and reduction in identification time of this novel method were calculated. Results: Ninety-six patients with BSI were included in the study. A total of 161 positive blood cultures were analyzed. Escherichia coli (50%, 81/161) was the most frequently identified pathogen, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (15%, 24/161) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8%, 13/161). Thirty-three percent of isolations had usual resistance patterns. However, 34/161 (21%) of identified pathogens were producers of carbapenemases and 21/161 (13%) of extended-spectrum β-lactamases. Concordance between our HB&L^® modified protocol and the traditional method was 99% (159/161). Finally, identification times were significantly shorter using our HB&L^®-modified protocol than traditional methods: median (IQR) 19 h (18, 22) vs. 61 h (60, 64), p < 0.001. Conclusions: Here, we provide novel evidence that using our HB&L^®-modified protocol is an effective strategy to reduce the time to detect MDRP producers of carbapenemases or extended-spectrum β-lactamases, with an excellent concordance rate when compared to the gold standard. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to determine whether this method may improve clinical outcomes.

Introducción: los pacientes con enfermedad renal son una población de alta complejidad por sus condiciones de multimorbilidad, riesgo cardiovascular y requerimiento de terapias inmunosupresoras. La vacunación es una de las principales estrategias para mitigar el riesgo de infecciones, no obstante, la respuesta a las vacunas se ve afectada por la pérdida de la calidad de la función inmunológica, efecto que es mayor en la medida en que la enfermedad renal progresa o se requiere el uso de medicamentos inmunosupresores. Por ello, las prácticas de inmunización deben ser incentivadas en los pacientes en estadios más precoces de su enfermedad. Desafortunadamente, existe un amplio desconocimiento por parte de los prestadores de atención respecto de las mejores prácticas de inmunización, adicionalmente, en Colombia no existe cobertura de aseguramiento en el plan de beneficios de salud para muchos de los biológicos requeridos. Objetivo: generar recomendaciones informadas en evidencia sobre vacunación en pacientes con enfermedad renal y condiciones especiales relacionadas. Metodología: a partir de una revisión y un análisis crítico de evidencia, el grupo desarrollador formuló recomendaciones sobre indicaciones, contraindicaciones y consideraciones especiales de inmunización en pacientes con enfermedad renal. Se consultó a un colectivo de expertos en infectología y nefrología sobre el acuerdo con las recomendaciones propuestas. Se definió un umbral de acuerdo del 80?%. Resultados: inicialmente se formularon 135 recomendaciones, de las cuales 124 recomendaciones fueron aprobadas en la consulta virtual, aquellas que no superaron el umbral fueron consensuadas en una sesión virtual. Al final del proceso se obtuvieron 142 recomendaciones. Conclusiones: la vacunación es una estrategia de prevención altamente recomendable en pacientes con enfermedad renal, con impactos favorables sobre la carga de enfermedad y la supervivencia. Se espera que las recomendaciones propuestas permitan orientar y estandarizar las prácticas de inmunización en estos pacientes y mejorar los desenlaces en salud para esta población. Introduction: Patients with kidney disease are a highly complex population due to their multimorbidity conditions, cardiovascular risk, and requirement for immunosuppressive therapies. Vaccination is one of the main strategies to mitigate the risk of infections, however, the response to vaccines is affected by the loss of the quality of immune function, an effect that is greater as kidney disease progresses or the use of immunosuppressive drugs is required. Therefore, immunization practices should be encouraged in patients in earlier stages of their disease. Unfortunately, there is a wide lack of knowledge among care providers regarding the best immunization practices, additionally, in Colombia, there is no insurance coverage in the health benefit plan for many of the required vaccines. Purpose: Generate evidence-informed recommendations on vaccination in patients with kidney disease and related special conditions. Methodology: Based on a critical review and analysis of the evidence, the developer group formulated recommendations on the indications, contraindications and special considerations for immunization in patients with kidney disease. A group of experts in infectious diseases and nephrology were consulted about their agreement with the proposed recommendations. An agreement threshold of 80% was defined. Results: Initially, 135 recommendations were formulated, of which 124 were approved in the virtual consultation, those that did not exceed the threshold were agreed upon in a virtual session. At the end of the process, 142 recommendations were obtained. Conclusions: Vaccination is a highly recommended prevention strategy in patients with kidney disease, with favorable impacts on disease burden and survival. The proposed recommendations are expected to guide and standardize immunization practices in these patients and improve health outcomes for this population.