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A study of 4,737 COVID-19 patients in Israel conducted during the Omicron surge concludes that Pfizer's antiviral drug Paxlovid roughly halves the risk of severe COVID-19 or death, according to findings published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
Pfizer and BioNTech submitted an EUA request for their vaccine in kids 6 months to 4 years old.
Moms' vaccination provided infants 71% protection against Delta and 33% against Omicron.
Also, a study notes potential undetected spread of the disease in Europe at least since early April.
Compared with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing, dogs can detect COVID-19 infections via scent with high sensitivity (97%)—though lower specificity (91%)—even when patients are asymptomatic, according to a study in PLOS One yesterday.
An analysis of studies published over the past two decades shows that human intestinal carriage of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli has risen substantially in healthcare and community settings around the world, researchers reported today in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance.
"There may have been undetected transmission for a while," a WHO official says.
Too-high pulse oximetry readings led clinicians to believe patients weren't ill enough for certain therapies.
Though falling or holding steady elsewhere, COVID cases are still increasing in the Americas region.
Three COVID-19 vaccine doses offer good protection against infection and hospitalization, including those caused by variants of concern—regardless of brand, type, or combination, according to an ongoing meta-analysis published yesterday in BMJ.
A new analysis of a randomized clinical trial shows that a repeated post-discharge decolonization regimen for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriers reduced MRSA colonization overall and at multiple body sites, researchers reported yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
"There's a window of opportunity where this can be contained," a WHO official says.
The findings reveal substantial global collateral damage during the pandemic.
In the US, the more transmissible BA.2.12.1 subvariant now makes up nearly 60% of sequenced samples.
The World Health Assembly (WHA) last week passed a resolution that aims to make infection prevention and control (IPC) a critical element of addressing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and of preparing for infectious disease health emergencies.
About 75% of COVID-19 deaths in the least-vaccinated Chicago areas could have been prevented if their uptake would have equaled that of the highest-coverage areas during the Alpha and Delta variant surges, suggests a study late last week in JAMA Network Open.
International survey finds 62% reported 1 or more symptoms of burnout, and 31% reported 2.
More than 20 countries have logged a combined total of more than 300 monkeypox cases.
"Seeing the numbers really does crystallize the urgency of this issue."
