Heavy alcohol use is a risk factor in severe infections and a previously unidentified risk factor for septicemia caused by candida, said the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS) in a press release on Friday, referring to a doctoral study conducted at the University of Helsinki.
The doctoral dissertation also unearthed that excessive alcohol consumption was also linked to more severe forms of complicated skin infections and bacterial infections requiring hospitalization.
Physician Klaus Kessel studied the disease characteristics of three types of severe generalized infections that require hospitalization and their prognosis in patients with and without alcoholism.
The studied infections were Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (septicemia), complicated skin and skin structure infection, and candida bloodstream infection (candidemia).
When compared to the other patients included in the study, Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection ("septicemia") was more difficult in heavy drinkers, and their mortality was also higher. They also needed intensive care more often than the other patients. The prognosis was poorer in heavy drinkers, even though their treatment was comparable to the treatment of the other patients, and they did not have more underlying health conditions.
Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causes of bloodstream bacterial infection, and the disease is often severe. Even generally healthy people can get Staphylococcus aureus infection.
Surprisingly, as many as one fifth of the patients with candidemia were heavy drinkers. They often lacked the known risk factors for profound candida infections.
In one fifth of the patients, the infection started during intensive care. Bloodstream infection caused by candida are rare and usually associated with immunologic deficiency, abdominal surgery, or infection and a long period of intensive care.
“Heavy drinkers should be recognized to be one of the risk groups of candida infection in inpatient care, which has not been acknowledged before,” said Doctoral Researcher Klaus Kessel.
With complicated skin infections, heavy drinkers also had longer hospital stays and they needed intensive care more often than the other patients. Treatment also failed with them more often.
In this group as well, the heavy drinkers were more often male, they were younger and more likely to have a liver disease than the other patients.
Kessel defended his thesis “Characteristics of bloodstream and complicated skin infections in patients with alcoholism(opens in new window, links to another website)” at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine on Friday.
- Alcohol
- Risk
- Infection
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
