Outpatient visits for flulike illness fell below the US national baseline of 2.2% last week, the first time since late November, but nine new flu-related deaths in kids were reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest weekly update.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
An international team of researchers reported yesterday that more than a third of patients hospitalized with liver cirrhosis and bacterial infections were infected with multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, according to a news release from the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).
Difficulty distinguishing pneumonia from volume overload in a patient with renal failure delayed a MERS-CoV diagnosis at a Riyadh hospital last year, which led to a superspreading event that sickened 44 people at three health facilities, Saudi researchers reported in the American Journal of Infection Control.
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.
After several days without updates, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed three new cases of MERS-CoV today and one death. The MOH has issued only sporadic updates this month; this is the first update since Apr 9.
Chinese scientists have discovered another colistin resistance gene in bacteria isolated from chickens, according to a study yesterday in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
Flu is dropping to off-season levels in most of the Northern Hemisphere, except Eastern Europe, according to the latest global flu update from the World Health Organization (WHO).
An Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to chopped romaine lettuce has sickened 18 more people, with five more states reporting illnesses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update.
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a new assessment of international cities most at risk for yellow fever transmission, and Miami made the cut.
The study used flight data from 2016 to track cities that play host to both the Aedes aegypti mosquito (the vector that carries yellow fever) and visitors from yellow fever–endemic areas.
UK officials today report good news on the outcome of the man treated for a highly resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection, but they also note two similar cases in Australia.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today expanded its warning to consumers to include all types of romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Ariz., growing area, based on new information from Alaska that sick people ate lettuce from whole heads of romaine.
The first data published by the Global Point Prevalence Survey reveal that penicillins with beta-lactamase inhibitors, third-generation cephalosporins, and fluoroquinolones were the most frequently prescribed antibiotics, and guideline compliance was 77.4%. The data, from 2015, were published Apr 19 in The Lancet Global Health.
The office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced that it will purchase $25.2 million worth of anthrax antitoxin from Elusys Therapeutics for the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).
In an updated risk assessment on Candida auris, an emerging difficult-to-treat fungus that can spread in healthcare settings, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said yesterday that the rising number of cases in Europe is concerning because of problems with lab identification and overall lack of awareness.
The Trump administration plan to shift oversight of the nation's Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and its $575 million budget from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is set to occur in October, but some observers worry that the plan could impede deployment when supplies are needed and that dec
Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 31 more cases of foodborne illness in a multistate Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to romaine lettuce. There are now84 ill people from 19 states (3 more states than the last update on Apr 18) identified in this outbreak.
A study today in Clinical Infectious Diseases tracked two waves of chikungunya infections in Nicaragua, demonstrating that outbreak intensity is linked to more severe clinical presentations of the mosquito-borne disease.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that Secretary Sonny Perdue has authorized the movement of a modified, noninfectious version of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, off the coast of New York, to the US mainland for vaccine development and research purposes.
A study today in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that childhood mortality in sub-Saharan African communities randomly assigned to mass distribution of azithromycin was lower than in those assigned a placebo. But the authors warn that resistance emerging from mass distribution of the antibiotic could curb or reverse any potential benefit.
A new surveillance report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found a high level of adherence to the agency's recommended treatment for uncomplicated gonorrhea.
Six years after it was first implemented, a multifaceted, practice-based intervention among Spanish primary care physicians continued to keep antibiotic prescribing levels down for respiratory tract infections (RTIs), researchers report in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
In a speech at the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Medical Society on Apr 27, philanthropist and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates announced the launch of a $12 million Grand Challenge to speed the development of a universal flu vaccine.
An updated analysis of the seasonal flu attack rate in unvaccinated people found that the virus infects 1 in 5 children each year and 1 in 10 adults, with symptomatic illness seen in about half of the infections. A team from Australia and New Zealand reported its findings yesterday in Vaccine.
