Infection News

The recent FDA warning due to the death of a patient following an investigational fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) brought to light many questions and concerns. The biggest question being, “In what situation did these deaths occur?” The report indicates that two immunocompromised patients received FMT and developed a multi-drug resistant infection and one of them died. We do not know if this FMT was done to help treat Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection, or for a different indication.

In a recently published commentary, Chelsea Elwood, MD, from the University of British Columbia, and colleagues advised that Canadian guidelines should recommend universal screening for hepatitis C in pregnant women as they do for hepatitis B and HIV to reduce the risk for vertical transmission.

Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, continues to be a significant pathogen in both hospitals and community-based settings. The associated morbidity, mortality and health care costs have prompted many to strengthen infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship strategies to minimize transmission and recurrence. Optimizing these efforts is a tough task because of the broad array of CDI risk factors. Recent antibiotic exposure — especially to fluoroquinolones, clindamycin, carbapenems and third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins — along with chemotherapy, proton-pump inhibitors, immunosuppression, advanced age, comorbidities such as renal dysfunction and hospitalization duration are known CDI risk factors. The frequent exposure to antimicrobials and health care settings, along with higher rates of C. difficile colonization in the immunosuppressed population, poses an appreciable conundrum to clinicians who are trying to reduce CDI risk.

Although not currently licensed for patients undergoing dialysis for severe renal impairment, researchers found that treatment with Epclusa for hepatitis C was safe and effective in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Two adults with weakened immune systems who received investigational fecal microbiota transplantations developed invasive infections caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli, according to an FDA press release.

One course of antibiotics could expand the gut resistome in children, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Researchers suggested that azithromycin may cause more drastic changes to the gut microbiota compared with antibiotics in other classes.

Patients who received interferon-based antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis C had a significantly lower incidence rate of Parkinson’s disease compared with untreated patients, according to an analysis published in JAMA Neurology.

An investigational vaccine for the prevention of Clostridioides difficile infection was safe, well-tolerated and immunogenic in healthy adults aged 65 to 85 years, according to findings from a phase 2 study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

A multifacility collaborative initiative implemented among acute-care hospitals in Orange County, California, resulted in a statistically significant 4% monthly decrease in hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, and a statistically significant 2% decrease in community-onset CDI, researchers reported in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Researchers found that treatment with a combination of Viread and GS-4774, a yeast-based therapeutic vaccine, increased hepatitis B-specific T cell immune response in untreated patients with chronic hepatitis B.