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.
Patients in Malaysia hospitalized with pneumonia in 2017 and 2018 tested positive for the first human-infecting canine coronavirus.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported a new MERS-CoV case, which involves a 36-year-old man who died from his infection.
The man was from Hafr Al-Batin in the country's northeast. An investigation found that the man had been exposed to camels. He wasn't a healthcare worker and isn't thought to have contracted MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) from another person.
A study of antibodies in 48 people in Saudi Arabia who survived their MERS-CoV infections found that some neutralizing antibodies persisted 6 years, a Saudi-led team reported yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
An audit of an electronic medical record–integrated antimicrobial stewardship intervention in an Australian intensive care unit (ICU) demonstrated long-term benefits and sustainability, Australian researchers reported today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
Out of 67 intensive care unit (ICU) patients who underwent simultaneous SARS-CoV-2 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) testing in Saudi Arabia, 8 (11.9%) had coinfections, according to a new Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease study.
The study didn't find any anomalous symptoms or mortality rates, although the researchers say more data are needed around mortality.
US nursing homes saw an increase in prescribing of antibiotics commonly used for respiratory infections during the pandemic, and large number of residents were prescribed drugs being evaluated for COVID-19 treatment, according to a study yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Israel's national COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which saw 84% of people 70 and older fully vaccinated by Feb 9 , was associated with less need for mechanical ventilation in the elderly. The finding could show that COVID-19 vaccine rollouts help prevent severe cases at the national level, according to a study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Telemedicine visits in Brazil performed under rigorous adherence to antibiotic stewardship guidelines were associated with appropriate antibiotic prescribing for patients with low-risk conditions, Brazilian and Australian researchers reported yesterday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Unemployment insurance was tied to a food insecurity reduction of 4.3 percentage points and a reduction in the need to eat less because of financial constraints of 5.7 percentage points during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a JAMA Network Open study published late last week.
