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This report attempts to catalogue the ballooning number of cases of C difficile infection (CDI) in the United States using available resources, including data collected from the IDSA Emerging Infections Program (which has a catchment area of 111 acute-care hospitals and 310 nursing homes); the 2010 National Health and Safety Network data, which covers 711 acute care hospitals in 28 States; and data derived from 3 CDI prevention programs in 3 different states.
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In this issue: Drug shortages; metformin and cancer prevention; migraine prevention guidelines; and FDA actions.
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In May 2011, an emergency-response team from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) traveled to South Sudan, attempting to assist in the investigation of the recent geographic clustering of an illness, suspected to be the nodding syndrome.
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CDC received 1691 reports of malaria diagnosed in the United States in 2010, a 14% increase from 2009, and the highest number of cases since 1980 (n=1864). Among these cases, 1131 were US residents, 368 foreign residents, and 192 had unknown status.
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In October 2011, GeoSentinel, the global surveillance program of the International Society of Travel Medicine, first reported on the initial findings in probable cases of sarcocystosis among travelers returning from Malaysia.
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Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, endemic only to the Americas. Most cases occur in tropical Central and South America, typically in impoverished communities that impinge upon the rural transmission cycle of this organism.
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In November 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented data on emergency hospitalizations because of adverse drug reactions. The report showed that insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents caused nearly 25% of the medication-induced hospitalizations in older adults in the United States.
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When routinely cultured, essentially all ICU privacy curtains were found to be contaminated with potential pathogens at least some of the time. Recovered organisms included methicillin-resistant staphylococci and vancomycin-resistant enterococci.
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In this study population with a 2% average risk of a major coronary event per year, LDL cholesterol, apolipoproteins, and LDL particle concentrations had similar and strong associations for major vascular events. The independent predictive value of HDL measures is less clear.