Infectious Disease
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Unintended Consequences: Steps to Fight Sepsis Increase C. diff
A hospital effort to rapidly identify potential sepsis cases and initiate antibiotic treatment led to an unintended consequence: an increase in Clostridium difficile infections.
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IDWeek: Antibiotic Use in Dentistry Driving Up C. diff Rates
Dentists prescribe a surprising amount of antibiotics, and this can lead to adverse patient consequences in the community.
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‘Mystery Patient Drills’ Test Hospital Readiness
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently conducted elaborate “mystery patient drills” that used in-house collaborators to evaluate clinical readiness in ED staff.
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Communication Failures Let Multidrug-resistant Bug Spread Between Settings
An outbreak of extremely drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii at multiple facilities in Oregon underscores an open secret: There are disincentives to telling the receiving facility that the patient has a history of a drug-resistant bacteria or other problematic pathogens.
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H3N2 Flu Strain Mismatch Could Hit Elderly Patients Hard
Elderly and long-term care staff are all too often the most under-immunized healthcare workers.
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Infectious Disease Alert Updates
Travelers Unaware of the Need for Pre-travel Vaccinations; Fecal Microbiota Testing; Newer Guidelines for Influenza Testing This Season
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Chikungunya Locally Acquired in Italy and France
An outbreak of autochthonously acquired chikungunya infection has affected 298 individuals as of early October 2017, while a small outbreak also has occurred in southeastern France.
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How Many Personnel Are Required for Antimicrobial Stewardship? More Than You Have at Your Hospital
A work group in the Veterans Administration determined that the necessary staffing of antimicrobial stewardship programs dealing with inpatients (including long-term care) is 1.0 clinical pharmacy specialist with infectious disease knowledge and 0.25 physician (preferably trained in infectious disease) per 100 occupied beds. Needs for outpatient stewardship, which is now mandated, were not included in the assessment.
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Treatment of Pulmonary Mycobacterium avium Infection: Failure Is Common
Current treatment regimens for pulmonary Mycobacterium avium infection leave a great deal to be desired.
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Immunohistochemistry and Diagnosis of Viral Diseases
Researchers reviewed five years of cases at an academic medical center’s pathology department for the use of immunohistochemistry to detect CMV, HSV-1, HSV-2, varicella zoster virus, adenovirus, or polyomavirus. Of 957 cases, 134 were positive. Viral cytopathic effect (CPE) was present on hematoxylin and eosin staining in 75% of the IHC+ cases. No changes in clinical care occurred in any of the IHC+ cases in which viral CPE was absent.