The average yearly number of food recalls increased from 2004 to 2013, probably because of several factors, including an increase in food volume sold and improvements in pathogen detection technology, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service reported yesterday.
Consumer Reports today urged the public to avoid all romaine lettuce for now, based on an Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak that has sickened 35 people in 11 states, as a Pennsylvania company recalled 8,757 pounds of ready-to-eat salads that may be contaminated.
With 18 new illnesses, the outbreak has grown to 35 cases in 11 states.
A study yesterday in the American Journal of Infection Control has found that only 62% of reported cases of healthcare facility–onset Clostridium difficile (HO-CDI) at a New York hospital met clinical criteria.
Six people have been hospitalized, including one with a serious kidney condition; no food source has been confirmed.
Illnesses from Salmonella Javiana, Thompson, and Infantis have risen about 50% in 10 years.
Fluoroquinolone resistance in hospital-onset E coli bacteremia rose markedly.
A worrisome finding among resistant Salmonella isolates was the Kentucky serovar, of which more than three-quarters were multidrug resistant.
Allergan, a pharmaceutical company based in Dublin, Ireland, yesterday announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an expanded indication for its antibiotic combination drug Avycaz (ceftazidime and avibactam) to treat hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia (HABP) and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (VABP) caused by gram-negative organisms.
CutisPharma today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Firvanq, the company's vancomycin oral solution for treating Clostridium difficile–associated diarrhea (CDAD) and enterocolitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains.
