Infection News

Twelve weeks of combination Sovaldi and NS5A inhibitors without ribavirin was a reliable therapy with high rates of sustained virologic response for recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation, according to a study published in Hepatology.

Kidney transplant recipients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C in whom viral replication was controlled had similar overall and graft survival rates as patients without viral hepatitis, according to data published in Journal of Hepatology.

Prior antibiotic exposure and protein pump inhibitor use were both risk factors for the development of Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, in pediatric inpatients, according to results of a meta-analysis published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

The current options for targeting hepatitis B include vaccination as prevention and immunomodulatory therapies for treatment. While the concept of a functional cure is beginning to gain some grounds, it is years away. For now, researchers continue to focus on discerning risk factors and disease progression to help patients.

Long-term surveillance among men who have sex with men with HIV after clearance of hepatitis C may be warranted as reinfection rates remain high and continue to occur more than 11 years after clearance regardless of treatment, according to a study presented at CROI.

The rates of hepatitis C incidence among men who have sex with men with HIV has significantly decreased in London since the epidemic peak in 2015, coinciding with wider access to direct-acting antiviral therapy, according to data presented at CROI.

Between 2005 and 2017, countries in the Western Pacific Region achieved marked progress toward hepatitis B control and elimination of mother-to-child transmission through increased vaccination among newborns, according to a report from the CDC.

Exposure to systemic antibiotics in the first year of life may be a risk factor for later development of celiac disease, according to results of an observational study published in Gastroenterology.

The CDC has begun using Clostridioides difficile instead of Clostridium difficile to refer to the bacterium that commonly causes infectious diarrhea, raising questions about the importance of naming conventions for well-known organisms.

All patients who completed direct-acting antiviral therapy after orthotopic heart transplantation with hepatitis C-positive donor hearts achieved sustained virologic, according to results from a recent study.