Infectious Disease Topics
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Infectious Disease Alert Updates
Masking Our Anxiety; Is it Luck or Genetics? Neurologic Infection from SARS-CoV-2
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Evaluation of 2020 Vancomycin Guidelines: Highlights, Limitations, and Obstacles
The key change from the 2009 vancomycin guidelines is the switch from trough-based to area under the curve (AUC)-based dosing and monitoring. This article will highlight key differences between the 2009 and 2020 guidelines, limitations of the new guidelines, and implementation issues.
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Differentiating Clostridioides difficile Infection from Chronic Carriage in Patients with Diarrhea Through Host Inflammatory Markers
Investigators compared levels of inflammatory markers in patients with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) to those who were colonized with it. Several markers appeared to be able to distinguish true CDI, although a gold standard definition of CDI is needed.
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Malaria Prophylaxis During Pregnancy
In a retrospective study of American military women involving 50 treated with atovaquone-proguanil and 156 exposed to mefloquine, no increase in risk of fetal loss or adverse infant outcomes was identified. Atovaquone-proguanil seems safe for use in pregnancy, but data are limited.
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COVID-19 and Children
In China, children of all ages have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and seem to follow a relatively mild clinical course.
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Imipenem, Cilastatin, Relebactam (Recarbrio)
In July 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved imipenem, cilastatin, relebactam for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including pyelonephritis and complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI).
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Empiric Anti-MRSA Therapy in Pneumonia May Not Always Be a Good Idea
In a retrospective cohort study, 88,605 patients in the Veterans Administration system who were hospitalized with pneumonia were examined. Thirty-eight percent received empiric anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) treatment. Empiric anti-MRSA treatment was not associated with a reduction in mortality in any subgroup of patients studied and appeared to cause harm in many patients.
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Combination Therapy of MRSA Bacteremia Was Not Beneficial in a Randomized Clinical Trial
In a randomized clinical trial conducted at 27 hospitals in four countries, researchers found that the addition of an antistaphylococcal beta-lactam to vancomycin or daptomycin (99% received vancomycin) did not lead to improved outcomes in MRSA bacteremia. The trial was stopped early because of safety concerns, including a higher risk of acute kidney injury in the combination group.
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Quantifying the Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in the United States
In the United States, the rate of symptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to contacts was only 0.45%, but was 10.5% in household contacts; there were tertiary symptomatic transmissions. However, since only symptomatic individuals underwent testing, the actual overall rate of transmission with or without resultant symptomatic illness is likely to be higher.
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Pharmacotherapy Considerations for COVID-19
This article provides a brief summary of selected pharmacotherapy options proposed for COVID-19.