Stefano Di Bella, MD

🦠 When the spinal implant stays, the biofilm stays too. Our CID letter with Filippo Mearelli & Milo Gatti: retained hardware → think antibiofilm, not just MIC. Rifampin, fosfomycin, ceftobiprole, daptomycin, delafloxacin. 📄 doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaf064 #IDSky #MedSky #AMR #Biofilm #OrthoSky

Can maggots become an antimicrobial stewardship tool? 🪰 Sterile larvae debride necrotic tissue, and their secretions are antibacterial, anti-biofilm and synergistic with antibiotics. From battlefield medicine to the AMR era. 📄 doi.org/10.53854/liim-3302-11 #IDSky #AMR #WoundCare #histmed

🔎 Clinical Challenge #9 Look carefully at the skin. And then at the eyebrows. 56-year-old man: diffuse erythematous lesions and sensory abnormalities. What is your diagnosis? 👉 stefanodibella.it/clinical-challenge-9/ #ClinicalChallenge #IDsky #MedSky #DermSky #MedEd

📏 BMI isn't the whole story. In 397 hospitalized #COVID19 patients, a larger neck was associated with 2.5× higher adjusted 30-day mortality hazard, independent of BMI. doi.org/10.3390/idr1... #IDSky #InfectiousDisease #MedSky #EpiSky #CriticalCare #Obesity #PublicHealth

French soldiers. Algeria. 19th century. 🗃️ Malaria, dysentery… and absinthe. 🦟💚 Military medicine had some rather unconventional ideas. www.mdpi.com/2413-4155/7/... #IDSky #Malaria #histmed #HistSTM #MedSky

Aspirin isn’t an antibiotic. But Klebsiella may still dislike it. 💊🦠 In lab studies, salicylate reduced capsular polysaccharide production by up to 70%, increasing susceptibility to phagocytosis. Intriguing mechanism, not clinical proof. Our review: doi.org/10.3390/biom...

💊 Temocillin for UTIs: first Italian multicentre real-world data. 30 patients, a high-risk mix: 🔹 ESBL 56.7% 🔹 Bacteraemia 40% 🔹 Sepsis 50% ✅ Clinical success: 93.3% A carbapenem-sparing option worth more attention. 📄 www.mdpi.com/2079-6382/15/10/1034 #IDSky #AMR #AntimicrobialStewardship

🚪 E. faecalis: the door is usually open. 🏰 E. faecium: expect a fortress. 11 Italian hospitals - 4,858 enterococcal blood isolates. Ampicillin resistance: 🔹 E. faecalis: 6.8% 🔸 E. faecium: 89.1% doi.org/10.1089/mdr.... #Enterococcus #AntimicrobialResistance #Microbiology #AntimicrobialStewardship

🧫 Mycoplasma & Ureaplasma are not one resistance phenotype. 🇮🇹 5-year data: Ureaplasma spp. → ciprofloxacin R 39.5% M. hominis → azithromycin R 60.5% Species identification matters. 📄 doi.org/10.1089/mdr.... #IDSky #AMR #ClinMicro #MedSky

🔎 Any idea what this strange blue object was used for? The “Blue Henry” (Blauer Heinrich) was a portable sputum flask used by tuberculosis patients. It even appears in Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, set in a tuberculosis sanatorium. 🎨 Artwork by Anna Dumitriu. #IDSky #Tuberculosis

🦴 Spondylodiscitis with neurological deterioration: decompression does not necessarily mean stabilization. In selected patients, decompressive laminectomy was associated with neurological recovery, pain relief, and no delayed arthrodesis. 📄 doi.org/10.3390/jpm1...

Sweet syndrome beyond the skin. Ulcerated cutaneous lesions with extensive oral involvement in classical Sweet syndrome—an uncommon presentation with a broad differential diagnosis. Ragonesi S et al., Dermatology Reports, 2026 doi.org/10.4081/dr.2...

A tongue tremor can be a clue to tick-borne encephalitis. In TBE, tongue tremor has been reported in ~30% of patients during the neurological phase. This short video shows the finding in a woman with TBE from northeastern Italy. Paper: doi.org/10.1136/pn-2... #IDSky #TBE

Can fosfomycin rescue temocillin activity against KPC-K. pneumoniae? In KPC-Kp isolates, temocillin + fosfomycin showed 91% synergy. In 97% of temocillin-resistant isolates, fosfomycin restored temocillin susceptibility The combination also improved survival in animal model. 👉 lnkd.in/d8fZQ3Y9

🧠🦠 Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is more than meningitis or encephalitis. Clinical manifestations, diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment and prevention — with a focus on emerging neurological features. 📄 Read our review: www.infezmed.it/media/journa... #TBE #TickBorneEncephalitis #InfectiousDiseases

Syphilis changed fashion. Yes, really. 👀 Wigs could hide hair loss, while facial patches may have concealed scars or skin lesions. From syphilis to plague, TB, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, infections have shaped fashion through history. 📖 rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa01/medic...

🚨 Campylobacter spp. bacteremia 🦠🩸 Happy to share our new systematic review & meta-analysis 📊✨ ✅ 25 studies ✅ 2,480 patients ✅ case-fatality risk: 5% Higher mortality was associated with: 🧫 C. fetus 🛡️ immunocompromised status 🟤 chronic liver disease 📖 lnkd.in/duJQgHR4

🦠 Ecthyma gangrenosum: don’t miss it A small necrotic skin lesion in a neutropenic patient can be the only sign of a life-threatening infection. Think Pseudomonas aeruginosa → act fast with empirical therapy. 🚀 Early recognition saves lives. 📄 Read more: rdcu.be/fbuu1

🚨 This “skin cancer” in a kidney transplant recipient turned out to be something very different. We report a rare cutaneous Scedosporium infection that clinically mimicked post-transplant malignancy — a potentially dangerous diagnostic pitfall. doi.org/10.1016/j.di...

European Journal of Pharmacology (2026) We explore the therapeutic potential of butyrate supplementation in sepsis: gut barrier protection, immune modulation, metabolic reprogramming. Nice preclinical evidence; clinical translation remains an open challenge. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2026.178594