Antimicrobials News

A case-based reasoning, or CBR, algorithm offered appropriate antibiotic recommendations significantly narrower in spectrum than choices made currently in clinical practice, according to results from a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Day Zero Diagnostics Inc. has been awarded up to $6.2 million in funding from Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator, or CARB-X, to accelerate the development of a new diagnostics system for combatting drug-resistant bacteria using machine learning and whole-genome sequencing.

A decrease in inpatient fluoroquinolone use, particularly in regard to ciprofloxacin, served as the primary driver behind a decrease in overall use of fluoroquinolones at Veterans Affairs, or VA, hospitals in a 3-year period, according to findings from a retrospective cohort study.

Nosocomial superinfections, including ones that are resistant to antimicrobials, will likely develop in “an appreciable minority” of patients with severe COVID-19 infections, according to a commentary in Clinical Infectious Diseases, which notes that stewardship is “crucial” to reduce broad-spectrum antimicrobial use in patients who are hospitalized.

Revised clinical practice guidelines for Clostridioides difficile that were published in February 2018 led to immediate, significant increases in oral vancomycin and fidaxomicin use in the United States, as well as a significant decrease in oral metronidazole use, according to findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Surgical specialty namely, cardiac and orthopedic procedures and the perception of high MRSA prevalence in a facility were the main factors that influenced the prescribing of vancomycin as surgical prophylaxis, according to a study conducted in a Veterans Affairs cohort.

Accurate influenza diagnosis and vaccination could curtail unnecessary antibiotic use and help reduce the global threat of antibiotic resistance, according to findings in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Accurate influenza diagnosis and vaccination could curtail unnecessary antibiotic use and help reduce the global threat of antibiotic resistance, according to findings in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Patients in hospitals with an infectious disease specialist are treated with antibiotics in a manner more consistent with antibiotic stewardship principles, according to results published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Using Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, or CLSI, revised breakpoints and omitting extended-spectrum beta-lactamase, or ESBL, labeling in electronic medical records decreased the prescribing of carbapenem antibiotics and increased beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor use for infections due to ESBL producers, according to a single-center retrospective chart analysis.