Centre Hospitalier de Douai

Venous aneurysms are relatively rare lesions that are reported throughout the venous system. They occur most often in the lower limbs, followed by the face and neck. Cervical veinous aneurysms are still much rarer and generally concern the internal jugular. We report a case of spontaneous aneurysm of the external jugular vein and describe the circumstances of discovery and the theurapeutic management. Key-words: Aneurysm, vein, jugular, external, Surgery

We report a case of spondylodiscitis caused by Aspergillus nidulans (SCAN). A. nidulans is a saprophytic fungus and emerging pathogen responsible for a variety of infections, although it is rarely implicated in osteoarticular infections. The patient was a 59-year-old immunocompromised patient with a history of lymphoma and splenectomy. Following diagnosis, the patient was promptly and effectively treated with voriconazole. A literature review underlines the distinctive features of the few case reports of SCAN, as well as the original features of the present case report.

Data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Systemic treatment options for psoriasis are limited for patients with recent neoplasia. We report the real-life use of apremilast (APR) in patients with psoriasis and recent cancer. We conducted a retrospective, multicentre study in five hospitals and among 120 private dermatologists in the north of France from January 2015 to May 2021. We included patients treated with APR for psoriasis and suffering from an active cancer or who had been diagnosed with a cancer or treated for a cancer within the last five years. We included 23 patients diagnosed with a cancer, on average 2.6 years before the introduction of APR for psoriasis. In most patients, APR was specifically chosen due to oncological history. At 16±8 weeks, 55% (n=11/20) of patients had achieved PASI50 score, 30% (n=6/20) PASI75, 5% (n=3/20) PASI90 and 37.5% (n=3/8) of them had a significant improvement in quality of life. Non-serious adverse events were observed in 65.2% (n=15/23) of patients (diarrhoea in 39%), resulting in discontinuation of treatment for 27.8%. The average duration of treatment was 303.8±252.4 days. For four patients, a recurrence or a progression of cancer was recorded during APR treatment. In our patients with both psoriasis and cancer, APR improved quality of life, with a good safety profile. A larger study, matched for type, stage and treatment of underlying cancer, would be necessary to draw further conclusions about the oncological safety of APR.

Blastocystis sp. is a widespread enteric protozoan that frequently infects human and animal groups. Despite its burden and zoonotic potential worldwide, epidemiological investigations remain limited in animal groups that come in contact with humans. Therefore, the largest survey ever conducted in North Africa was performed in Egypt with the aim to investigate the prevalence and subtype (ST) distribution of Blastocystis sp. in animals. For this purpose, a total of 889 fecal specimens were collected from chickens (217), cattle (373), dogs (144) and cats (155) from six governorates of northern Egypt. These specimens were then screened for the presence of Blastocystis sp. using a quantitative real-time PCR, followed by subtyping the isolates. The overall prevalence of Blastocystis sp. reached 9.2% (82/889), with the highest infection rates reported in chickens (17.0%) and domestic cattle (11.0%), highlighting an active circulation of the parasite in both animal groups. In contrast, the low prevalence in cats (2.6%) and the absence of the parasite in dogs suggested that pets are not natural hosts of Blastocystis sp. ST10 and ST14 were largely predominant in cattle, confirming that both STs represented cattle-adapted STs. The report of one ST3 and one ST4 isolate in this animal group could be explained by an accidental zoonosis from humans to animals. All but one of the subtyped isolates in poultry belonged to ST7, which was considered as an avian ST. The presence of a remaining isolate of ST14 likely reflected a transient infection from contact between birds and cattle feces. The same environmental contamination was also likely the source of the ST14 infection in three of the four positive cats, with the remaining animals infected by ST3 as the result of human-to-animal transmission. These occurrences and subtyping data, combined with those previously collected in the Egyptian population, implies that poultry could play a significant role as reservoir for zoonotic transmission, which would not be the case for cattle and pets.