Infectious Disease
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IC Leadership Rounds: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Once consigned to silos themselves, infection preventionists are increasingly out on the floors and inviting their administrators to join them in “leadership rounds.” -
Lightning Strikes: Fatal Infections of Rare Origin
Consider two separate tales of transplant and transfusion gone horribly awry by the narrowest of margins. Each represents a conspiracy of unlikely events that enabled deadly pathogens to find a path to frail patients. -
Infectious Disease Alert Updates
House Mice as Vectors; Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables — or You Might Get TB!
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Another Reason to Get the Flu Shot Every Year
In a case-control study, among older adults, repeated vaccination for influenza was twice as effective in preventing severe influenza compared to non-severe influenza in patients who were admitted to the hospital.
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Fosfomycin or Nitrofurantoin for Cystitis?
A single dose of fosfomycin was found to be less effective than five days of thrice-daily dosing of nitrofurantoin in the treatment of symptomatic lower urinary tract infection in women.
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PANDAS: Examining the Evidence for Treatment Options
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) is a proposed disorder first named in 1998 that has been the subject of controversy in the literature. Although the debate has waned somewhat in the United States, it remains a topic of discussion in many European medical journals. A recent systematic review found no evidence for antimicrobial or immunomodulatory treatment for this condition.
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Antibiotic Cycling Is Not Useful for Reducing Antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative Pathogens in Patients Admitted to Intensive Care Units
A randomized study that included eight intensive care units in Europe found no reduction in mortality or carriage of antibiotic-resistant gram-negative pathogens with antibiotic cycling compared to antibiotic mixing.
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Azithromycin Saves Lives in Africa
Approximately 200,000 preschool-aged children in communities in Malawi, Niger, and Tanzania were treated twice yearly with either azithromycin or placebo. Communities in which azithromycin was provided had 13.5% less all-cause mortality than did placebo-treated communities. In children 1 to 5 months of age, the mortality was 25% lower with azithromycin than with placebo.
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Fostamatinib Disodium Hexahydrate Tablets (Tavalisse)
Fostamatinib is indicated for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in adults with chronic immune thrombocytopenia with insufficient response to a previous treatment.
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Running and Health
In a review and meta-analysis of the effects of running and longevity, researchers concluded that running provides specific and significant health benefits and proposed a threshold above which more running provides diminishing returns.