Infection News

The CDC has reported that 768 people have been infected with Salmonella through contact with backyard poultry in 48 states. Children aged younger than 5 years account for almost one-quarter of all cases.

Mayo Clinic tops U.S. News & World Report’s 2019-2020 Best Hospitals rankings for adult gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery.

Research published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society suggests that a generic version of ledipasvir-sofosbuvir — marketed in the United States as Harvoni — is safe and effective for the treatment of teens with hepatitis C virus infection.

Patients who demonstrated negative results from tests for both hepatitis B DNA and RNA at the cessation of nucleos(t)ide treatment were less likely to experience clinical or virological relapse years later compared with those with only one negative test result.

This year for World Hepatitis Day, the theme is “Find the Missing Millions.” Hundreds of millions of people living with viral hepatitis are unaware of their infection and many people are also unaware of the available treatments, especially the high efficacy and safety of available direct-acting antivirals.

Decentralized treatment of hepatitis C using telemedicine clinics achieved a sustained virologic response rate of more than 90% regardless of genotype or presence of cirrhosis, according to a published study conducted in India.

Several members of the American Gastroenterological Association recently met with representatives from the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research to offer clinical and research perspectives on fecal microbiota transplantation and to gain a better understanding of CBER’s thoughts on the regulation of FMT for Clostridioides difficile infection.

Increasing length of stay, exposure to multiple classes of antibiotics, use of opioids and cirrhosis are all independently associated with an increased risk for hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, in asymptomatic colonized patients, but age is not, according to findings from a retrospective cohort study.

In recent years, almost half of all U.S. states have reported outbreaks of person-to-person transmission of hepatitis A virus, especially among people who use drugs, people experiencing homelessness, and men who have sex with men. Infectious Disease News asked Kelly L. Moore, MD, MPH, a preventive medicine physician and adjunct associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt School of Medicine, if HAV vaccination should be recommended for all adults in light of the ongoing outbreaks. Moore chairs the Hepatitis Vaccines Work Group for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Much attention has been paid to hepatitis B and C viruses, as is evident from public health programs and the drug development pipeline. But three other hepatitis viruses also cause disease in humans: hepatitis A, D and E.