Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
A quality improvement (QI) program combining clinician education, clear and concise recommendations, and decision support was associated with a safe reduction in vancomycin use in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), researchers reported today in Pediatrics.
A new report from the World Economic Forum predicts a future of rising risks and costs from waterborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
High-risk adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 who receive a dose of casirivimab and imdevimab have lower hospitalization rates than those who don't, according to a randomized, controlled trial today in The Lancet's EClinicalMedicine. The casirivimab and imdevimab combination is under emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Severity and the type of symptoms experienced appear to be the biggest factors in accepting a delayed antibiotic prescription for a respiratory tract infection (RTI), according to a UK survey published yesterday in PLOS Medicine.
After two doses of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, nearly 90% of immunocompromised patients had an antibody response, but it was about as third as strong as those with healthy immune systems, according to data published in the Annals of Internal Medicine yesterday.
Pre-hospital antiplatelet therapy, most commonly aspirin, was associated with significantly lower in-hospital mortality rates for COVID-19 patients, according to a study this week in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
Admission screening for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) at a Vietnamese children's hospital was associated with reduced CRE acquisition, hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), duration of hospital stay, and costs, according to a study published this week in Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control.
The rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib was shown to reduce mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to a randomized, controlled trial published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine yesterday. Baricitinib acts as a Janus kinases inhibitor and is under emergency use authorization to treat severe COVID-19 by the US Food and Drug Administration.
COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against the Delta (B1617.2) variant was 65% in those fully vaccinated, according to a population-based study in Norway. The results, published in Eurosurveillance yesterday, looked at 4,204,859 infected adults without previous COVID-19 from mid-April to mid-August.
A survey across 73 countries assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the prevention and control of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) highlights reduced availability of nursing, medical, and public health staff for AMR efforts. The study was published today in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
A new study by researchers in Pakistan details the impact and response to treatment among children diagnosed as having extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid infections.
Results from an observational cohort study of pregnant women indicated a 96% vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19 infection and an 89% VE against hospitalization for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in pregnant women, according to a study in Nature Medicine today.
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines have a collective 91% vaccine efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 infection in Americans 16 years and older, according to a test-negative study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases today.
A study of US veterans hospitalized with community-acquired sepsis shows an overall decline in time-to-antibiotics, with significant variation across hospitals, researchers reported this week in JAMA Network Open.
Patients diagnosed as having metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) after COVID-19 lockdowns in France had significantly higher tumor burdens and died sooner than those diagnosed before the pandemic, shows a multicenter study yesterday in JAMA Network Open.
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study shows that 65.9% of a sample of US adults who tested positive for COVID-19 reported at least one lingering symptom more than a month later.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed two new variant flu cases in Iowa, according to its weekly Fluview update.
One case involves the influenza A H3N2 variant (H3N2v) and the other the influenza A H1N2 variant (H1N2v). Both infections are in children. Neither was hospitalized, and both have fully recovered, the CDC said.
Originally published by CIDRAP News Sep 9
US counties with more excess deaths not attributed to COVID-19 had less health insurance coverage and primary care as well as more at-home deaths, according to a research letter today in JAMA Network Open.
The researchers looked at 2020 data from the US National Center for Health Statistics for 2,096 counties with 319.1 million residents and divided county characteristics into quartiles.
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients were more likely to have autoantibodies, or self-attacking antibodies, than those without COVID-19, according to a study today in Nature Communications.
A review and meta-analysis of point-prevalence surveys conducted in Asia over the past two decades found concerning levels of resistance to first-line and last-resort antibiotics in foodborne pathogens isolated from aquatic animals, researchers reported late last week in Nature Communications.
Cloth or surgical facial masks reduced SARS-CoV-2 RNA 77% in exhaled coarse aerosol particles and 48% in exhaled fine aerosol particles, offering "modest" source control, according to a Clinical Infectious Diseases study yesterday. The study also found that the Alpha (B117) COVID-19 variant contained 43-fold more fine-aerosol viral RNA compared with earlier virus strains.
Researchers in Switzerland have identified an increase in New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM)–producing Enterobacterales, according to a report published today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday launched a toolkit to help healthcare payers support appropriate antibiotic use in outpatient settings.
