Current Practice Patterns and Educational Needs of Immunocompromised Infectious Diseases Physicians in Australia and New Zealand.

Introduction: The Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) Immunocompromised Host Special Interest Group conducted a survey of the immunocompromised host (ICH) infectious diseases (IDs) workforce in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). The primary aim of the survey was to characterise the current working environments and training of ANZ ICH ID clinicians and to better understand the education and research needs.

Methods: A four-part questionnaire was developed based on a survey designed by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Study Group for Infection in Compromised Hosts.

Large language models for infectious diseases require evidence generation and regulation.

Large language models (LLMs) offer significant potential in healthcare, especially in the Australian infectious diseases (ID) context, where a great deal of information must be gathered and synthesised. To maximise benefits, the use of evidence-based medicine principles, robust trials, thorough regulatory frameworks and timely guidelines statements are necessary. Additionally, proactive strategies utilising artificial intelligence architectures such as retrieval-augmented generation can help minimise risks, while optimising the benefits of LLM in ID.

Zero-shot large language model application for surgical site infection auditing.

Introduction: Artificial intelligence, in particular large language models (LLM), may be able to assist with monitoring for surgical site infections (SSI).

Method: This retrospective study involved the application of the Llama 3.0 70-billion parameter model to the identification of SSI in a group of all SSI in two metropolitan hospitals from a 4-month period.

Seizures and Lung Lesions in a Solid Organ Transplant Recipient: Bringing Things Together.

A 28-year-old male presented to an Australian hospital with sudden-onset headache and seizure following a kidney transplant for end-stage renal disease due to IgA nephropathy. Clinical approach to the cases and management of the diagnosed disease are discussed.

Management, Outcomes, and Predictors of Mortality of Cryptococcus Infection in Patients Without HIV: A Multicenter Study in 46 Hospitals in Australia and New Zealand.

Background: Limited data exist regarding outcomes of cryptococcosis in patients without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and few studies have compared outcomes of Cryptococcus gattii versus Cryptococcus neoformans infection.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in 46 Australian and New Zealand hospitals to determine the outcomes of cryptococcosis in patients without HIV diagnosed between 2015 and 2019 and compared outcomes of C. gattii versus C.

Current Epidemiology and Clinical Features of Cryptococcus Infection in Patients Without Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A Multicenter Study in 46 Hospitals in Australia and New Zealand.

Background: Patients without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are increasingly recognized as being at risk for cryptococcosis. Knowledge of characteristics of cryptococcosis in these patients remains incomplete.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of cryptococcosis in 46 Australian and New Zealand hospitals to compare its frequency in patients with and without HIV and describe its characteristics in patients without HIV.

Extra-pulmonary applications of procalcitonin: .

Introduction: Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker with established performance in the differentiation between bacterial and viral infections, predominantly in pulmonary infections, as well as the diagnosis and prognosis of bacterial sepsis. However, the role of PCT in extra-pulmonary infections is not well described.

Areas Covered: We reviewed the role of PCT in commonly experienced extra-pulmonary infections including meningitis, diabetic foot infection, prosthetic joint infection, osteomyelitis, and skin and soft tissue infection.

Suboptimal COVID-19 vaccine uptake among hospitalised patients: an opportunity to improve vulnerable, hard-to-reach population vaccine rates.

Background: COVID-19 vaccination represents a key preventative part of the Australian public health approach to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Hospital inpatients are frequently high risk for severe COVID-19 and death. Anecdotes of high-risk inpatients being unvaccinated and a lack of electronic medical record (EMR) visibility of COVID-19 vaccination status prompted the present study as these patients could represent a risk to themselves, staff, other patients and service provision.

Baseline procalcitonin as a predictor of bacterial infection and clinical outcomes in COVID-19: A case-control study.

Purpose: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is associated with a wide spectrum of clinical symptoms including acute respiratory failure. Biomarkers that can predict outcomes in patients with COVID-19 can assist with patient management. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether procalcitonin (PCT) can predict clinical outcome and bacterial superinfection in patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Therapeutic drug monitoring of flucytosine in a cardiac transplant patient receiving continuous veno-venous hemofiltration and intermittent hemodialysis: A case report.

Invasive candidiasis is one of the common infections in solid organ transplant recipients. Guidelines recommend echinocandins or liposomal amphotericin with consideration of flucytosine (5-fluorocytosine; 5-FC) as synergistic therapy for treatment of select deep-seated Candida infections, including complex endovascular infections. Flucytosine undergoes extensive renal elimination; however, optimal dosing in patients with renal impairment, or those requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT), is not well-established.

Characteristics and Outcomes of Latinx Patients With COVID-19 in Comparison With Other Ethnic and Racial Groups.

Background: There is a limited understanding of the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the Latinx population. We hypothesized that Latinx patients would be more likely to be hospitalized and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) than White patients.

Methods: We analyzed all patients with COVID-19 in 12 Massachusetts hospitals between February 1 and April 14, 2020.

Immunosuppressive Agents and Infectious Risk in Transplantation: Managing the "Net State of Immunosuppression".

Successful solid organ transplantation reflects meticulous attention to the details of immunosuppression, balancing risks for graft rejection against risks for infection. The "net state of immune suppression" is a conceptual framework of all factors contributing to infectious risk. Assays that measure immune function in the immunosuppressed transplant recipient relative to infectious risk and allograft function are lacking.

COVID-19 in solid organ transplant recipients: Dynamics of disease progression and inflammatory markers in ICU and non-ICU admitted patients.

Background: COVID-19 infection varies in severity from minimal symptoms to critical illness associated with a hyperinflammatory response. Data on disease progression in immunosuppressed solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients are limited.

Methods: We examined the electronic medical records of all SOT recipients with COVID-19 from 12 Massachusetts hospitals between February 1, and May 6, 2020.

Clinical Effectiveness of Conjugate Pneumococcal Vaccination in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients are vulnerable to invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), with reported IPD rates ranging from 3.81 to 22.5/1000 HSCT.

Inflammatory bowel disease-specific pregnancy knowledge of gastroenterologists against general practitioners and obstetricians.

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) tend to have smaller family sizes. Health care professionals (HCPs) may inadvertently provide inaccurate advice to patients resulting in voluntary childlessness or unfavourable pregnancy outcomes.

Objective: The study aims to objectively measure IBD-specific pregnancy-related knowledge of general practitioners (GPs) and obstetricians/gynaecologists (OB/GYNs) in comparison with gastroenterologists (GEs) using the validated Crohn's and Colitis Pregnancy Knowledge (CCPKnow) questionnaire.