Infectious Disease
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NIH Approves Research to Enhance Pandemic Pathogens
“Gain-of-function” research designed to make pathogens deadlier in order to develop treatments and countermeasures has been given a green light by the National Institutes of Health.
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Changing Human Behavior on Antibiotic Stewardship
Infection preventionists are turning to social scientists to better understand why it is so difficult to get people to consistently wash their hands or, in a more recent example, stop them from overprescribing drugs or inappropriately using broad-spectrum antibiotics that will select out resistant organisms.
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Zika Virus: Not Gone, Certainly Not Forgotten
A mosquito bite, typically a mere nuisance, becomes something else entirely when the mosquito carries Zika. It sets off a series of risks and variables that reach their most dire consequence if the virus reaches a human fetus, particularly during the first trimester of pregnancy. -
CDC: At-Risk Flu Patients Should Receive Antivirals
Neuraminidase inhibitor (NAI) antiviral medications should be brought to bear early and often to stave off severe and fatal flu infections due to a vaccine mismatch this season, the CDC recommends.
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Severe Flu Season a Call to Action for Infection Preventionists
With public health officials giving clinicians essentially a standing order to administer antivirals to high-risk patients with influenza due to a vaccine mismatch, infection preventionists are stepping up to play critical roles in response to a severe flu season.
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Clinical Briefs
In this section: Finding the prescription for the best diet, treating severe acute pain in the ED, and reducing falls among older patients.
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Ertugliflozin Tablets (Steglatro)
Ertugliflozin is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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The Incidence of Dementia May Be Declining
In community-dwelling people from Bronx County, New York, there was a sharp decrease in dementia incidence in those born after mid-1929, which could not be readily explained by changes in the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, higher education, or increased racial/ethnic diversity.
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CT Calcium Score vs. Stress Testing
A subgroup analysis of the PROMISE trial showed that CT coronary calcium scores in symptomatic patients at low to intermediate risk for coronary artery disease are more sensitive but less specific for major adverse cardiac events over a two-year follow-up period than stress testing. Consequently, both approaches exhibited similar but modest discriminatory ability.
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Hold the Hormones — At Least for Chronic Condition Prevention
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reissued a statement on hormone replacement therapy for the prevention of chronic conditions that reiterates its D recommendation from 2012. It recommends physicians do not prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to prevent medical conditions, but leave the question of using HRT for treatment of menopausal symptoms unanswered.