Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

Global prevalence of vanco-resistant Staph has more than tripled: study

The global prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) has more than tripled in the past two decades, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis yesterday in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control.

AHRQ publishes antibiotic stewardship toolkit for long-term care

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) yesterday released a toolkit to improve antibiotic use in long-term care facilities.

Turkish hospital study shows benefits of antifungal stewardship

Implementing daily, pharmacist-driven antifungal stewardship activities at a tertiary care hospital in Turkey was associated with significant improvements in the appropriateness of antifungal therapy, Turkish researchers reported yesterday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Study: Nursing homes with predominant minority populations bore bigger COVID impacts

An analysis of data from 211 Connecticut nursing homes found that facilities that cared for mainly racial and ethnic minority residents had higher levels of COVID-19 illnesses and deaths. A team based at the University of Rochester in New York reported their findings today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

CDC-led study finds major racial disparities in MIS-C incidence

A surveillance study of US children during the first wave of the pandemic found that multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was a rare complication associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, but incidence was significantly higher in non-White racial and ethnic groups, US researchers reported yesterday in JAMA Network Open.

Immunoglobulin may benefit those with COVID vaccine-related blood clots

High doses of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) in conjunction with an anticoagulant were associated with resolved vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) in three patients, according to a report yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

VITT occurs when antibodies attack protein factor 4 (PF4), leading to blood clumping and clots.

Risk factors for COVID infection, death noted in group home residents

A study of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) living in New York City group homes has identified older age, larger residential settings, Down syndrome, and chronic kidney disease as risk factors for COVID-19 infection, with heart disease as a risk factor for related death.

Study identifies metrics tied to respiratory infection antibiotic overuse

More than two thirds of antibiotics prescribed for respiratory tract infections at primary care practices within an academic health system were inappropriate, with unnecessary prescribing strongly linked to respiratory infections that almost never require antibiotics, researchers reported today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

COVID-19 reinfections probably rare, according to Italian study

COVID-19 infection was 94% less likely in people previously infected than in those never infected, according to a research letter late last week in JAMA Internal Medicine. However, the researchers note, their study concluded before COVID-19 variants became dominant.

Mild COVID-19 not associated with heart damage, study says

Mild COVID-19 infection was not linked to longer-term heart damage, according to a JACC Cardiovascular Imaging study late last week.