Table 4.
Patient Laboratory Results and Treatments by Meningitis Status Among Cutaneous Anthrax Patients, Kyrgyz Republic, 2005–2012
| Characteristic | Likely Nonmeningitis (N = 89) | Likely Meningitis (N = 37) | Odds Ratio (95% Confidence Interval) |
P Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | (%) | n | (%) | |||
| Laboratory results on admission | ||||||
| White blood count ×109/L, mean (SD) | 6.5 | (1.9) | 8.0 | (2.5) | 1.4 (1.1–1.7) | .001 |
| Hemoglobin g/L, mean (SD) | ||||||
| Male | 127 | (6.2) | 130 | (5.0) | 1.1 (1.0–1.2) | .03 |
| Female | 126 | (10) | 120 | (7.3) | 0.9 (.8–1.1) | .2 |
| Hematocrit, mean (SD) | ||||||
| Male | 0.45 | (0.02) | 0.44 | (0.03) | 0 (0–0) | .001 |
| Female | 0.43 | (0.04) | 0.43 | (0.03) | 0.07 (0–∞) | .9 |
| Platelets ×109/L, mean (SD) | 261 | (55) | 281 | (36) | 1.0 (1.0–1.0) | .05 |
| Lesion culture positivea | 37 | (41.6) | 19 | (51.4) | 1.4 (.6–3.0) | .4 |
| Lesion Gram stain positive | 51 | (57.3) | 20 | (54.1) | 1.9 (.7–5.0) | .2 |
| Blood culture positivea | 2 | (2.2) | 11 | (29.7) | 17.1 (3.6–82.4) | .0004 |
| Positive culture or Gram staina | 77 | (86.5) | 34 | (91.9) | 1.8 (.5–6.7) | .4 |
| Positive culture, Gram stain, or anthraxin testa | 84 | (94.4) | 35 | (94.6) | 1.0 (.2–5.6) | 1.0 |
| Treatment and outcome | ||||||
| Antimicrobial treatment combinations | ||||||
| Monotherapy alone | 83 | (93.3) | 21 | (56.8) | Reference | ... |
| Sequential monotherapy | 5 | (5.6) | 2 | (5.4) | 1.6 (.1–10.5) | .9 |
| Dual therapy alone | 0 | (0) | 3 | (8.1) | 14.4 (2.1–∞) | .01 |
| Dual therapy followed by monotherapy | 1 | (1.1) | 11 | (29.7) | 41.8 (5.5–∞) | <.0001 |
| Triple therapy | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | ... | ... |
| Fatal | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | ... | ... |
| Length of hospital stay, mean (SD), days | 16.9 | (3.8) | 19.8 | (4.8) | 1.2 (1.1–1.3) | .002 |
Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.
a
There were 6 patients with unspecified blood culture results, 7 patients with unspecified lesion culture results, and 1 patient with unspecified anthraxin results.