Antimicrobials News

In this bimonthly column, pediatric infectious disease specialists Asif Noor, MD, FAAP, and Ulka Kothari, MD, share valuable insight on antimicrobial stewardship in pediatric outpatient settings and explain why it is important for your practice. Antimicrobial stewardship programs, or ASPs, have become a crucial intervention to spare patients and facilities from the burden of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, which are responsible for one death every 15 minutes, according to updated estimates from the CDC.

In this bimonthly column, pediatric infectious disease specialists Asif Noor, MD, FAAP, and Ulka Kothari, MD, share valuable insight on antimicrobial stewardship in pediatric outpatient settings and explain why it is important for your practice. Antimicrobial stewardship programs, or ASPs, have become a crucial intervention to spare patients and facilities from the burden of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, which are responsible for one death every 15 minutes, according to updated estimates from the CDC.

Infectious disease eConsultation was associated with decreased 30-day mortality and hospital readmissions in a study conducted at two rural hospitals.

Less than 2% of health care providers account for 25% of all pediatric antibiotic prescriptions in Tennessee, according to a study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteria continue to present an important threat to public health, and a long-stagnating antibiotic pipeline prompted the launch of the “10 x ’20” initiative by the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2010. The IDSA called for FDA approval of 10 new systemic antibiotics by the year 2020. This goal has now been met and exceeded, largely through the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now title of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act, which permitted fast track and priority review, followed by an additional 5 years of patent exclusivity upon approval, for novel antimicrobials.

Some decisions in life are quite difficult and complex; others come more easily and naturally. For me, the latter was the case with my decision to pursue a career in infectious diseases. From early first year pharmacology classes, to learning at the feet of ID giants like Harold Neu, Glenda Garvey, Mark Goldberger and many others in my 3rd and 4th years, going into ID was an easy choice.

Data indicate that fewer medical students and fellows are joining the HIV workforce, perhaps under the impression that HIV is no longer the exciting and rewarding field it once was. We asked Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member Peter Chin-Hong, MD, professor of medicine and director of the transplant infectious disease program at University of California, San Francisco, what the “new HIV” is — the ID-related field that is attracting today’s young clinicians.

Although the CDC’s Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship provide a framework for outpatient antibiotic use, researchers are calling for more practical strategies and tools that are straightforward, highly effective and sustainable in a letter to the editor published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Failure to respond to antibiotics may serve as a strong indicator of tuberculosis among people living with HIV who have symptoms of the disease, according to findings published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

A portion of ICU patients’ hands harbor pathogenic bacteria, including multidrug-resistant organisms, according to findings published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.