In a first-of-its-kind study, a team of US researchers reported this week in Clinical Infectious Diseases that nearly all of more than 400 deceased organ donors received at least one antibiotic dose during their terminal hospitalization, a finding that study authors say highlights the need for antibiotic stewardship in this population.
While one in four Washington, DC, child care facilities reported at least one COVID-19 case from July to December 2020, only 5.8% had COVID-19 facility-associated outbreaks, according to yesterday's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. A facility-associated outbreak was defined as two or more lab-confirmed cases at a child care site within 14 days.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
Increased age and underlying medical conditions were associated with a greater likelihood for more severe COVID-19 infections in pregnant women, according to a study late last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Implementation of a test that provides rapid bacterial identification and susceptibility results from positive blood cultures shortened the time to optimal antibiotic therapy and reduced unnecessary antibiotic exposure in hospitalized patients with bacteremia, researchers reported late last week in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
Low testosterone concentrations in men with COVID-19 are associated with a greater likelihood of COVID-19 infection severity, artificial ventilation or intensive care unit (ICU) treatment, and death, according to a study yesterday in JAMA Network Open.
CARB-X announced today that it is awarding up to $3.9 million to a Danish microbiome biotechnology company to develop a CRISPR-based drug to prevent Escherichia coli infections in cancer patients.
A randomized controlled trial of two inactivated (vero cell) COVID-19 vaccines made in China finds a vaccine efficacy of 73% in one and 78% in the other, according to a study yesterday in JAMA.
The whole-virus inactivated vaccines were developed with strains of the virus taken from patients in Wuhan, China.
Hospitalization, hypoxemia, pneumonia, and other complications were found more in children who contracted COVID-19 than in those who had seasonal flu, according to a study today in Pediatrics.
The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), on behalf of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, issued a statement this week that called on World Health Organization (WHO) member states to strengthen their responses to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
CARB-X announced today that it is awarding Swiss pharmaceutical company BioVersys up to $4.35 million to develop a new class of antibiotics to treat life-threatening infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Prophylactic hydroxychloroquine treatment was not associated with any risk difference for COVID-19 infection, according to an International Journal of Infectious Diseases study yesterday.
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.
Guidelines for antibiotic initiation and discontinuation for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) in COVID-19 patients at a Chicago hospital were associated with reduced antibiotic prescribing and days of therapy (DOT), researchers reported yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases.
US intensive care unit (ICU) beds increased a net 10% amid the COVID-19 pandemic, from April to July 2020, over 2019 baselines, according to a study today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
Nearly 80% of US patients hospitalized for COVID-19 received antibiotics from March through October 2020, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
Preventive use of bamlanivimab lowered the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 in staff and residents of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in the United States, according to a study yesterday in JAMA.
The use of rapid respiratory pathogen (RRP) testing among children with influenza-like illness (ILI) did not reduce antibiotic prescribing, according to a randomized clinical trial published late last week in JAMA Network Open.
CARB-X announced today that is awarding Tucson, Arizona–based Accelerate Diagnostics $578,000 to develop a diagnostic test for sepsis based on new fiber optic technology.
A survey of 164 New York physicians found that one in five were severely distressed during their first COVID-19 triage decisions and last-minute training did not appear to alleviate stress, according to a study yesterday in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.
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.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it has finalized guidelines to bring the remaining medically important antibiotics still sold over-the-counter (OTC) for use in animals under the supervision of veterinarians.
The World Health Organization (WHO) this week released three new documents that aim to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through a behavioral insights approach.
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.
