Antimicrobials News

In 2015, approximately 24 million antibiotic prescriptions in the United States lacked a documented indication and 32 million prescriptions were identified as inappropriate, according to data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey — indicating that nearly half of all prescriptions could be inappropriate.

To mark the transition to a new year, we have compiled a list of the top 10 most-read Infectious Disease News stories of 2019 on Healio.com. Please click the links to read the full stories.

Using the CDC’s guidelines for antimicrobial stewardship programs was associated with a decrease in Clostridioides difficile infection, but not MRSA, in U.S. hospitals, researchers found.

A multifaceted outpatient antimicrobial stewardship intervention implemented at seven primary care clinics significantly reduced overall antibiotic prescriptions, as well as unnecessary and suboptimal prescriptions rates

I was the intern on call for the pediatric oncology service at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital when my mother called with news that my father had experienced a stroke. My colleagues covered the service while my wife and I drove quickly to my hometown a few hours away. My dad had, indeed, experienced a large middle cerebral artery stroke, but curiously he was also highly febrile (40.5C). In the hours and days to follow, we would learn that he had a large mitral valve vegetation, that he had group B Streptococcus bacteremia and that he would not survive the event.

In the current era of medicine, the creation of practice guidelines and the care we provide to our patients are based on a combination of data gathered from 1) well-conducted, prospective, randomized clinical trials; 2) large cohorts of retrospective observational studies; and when these are lacking, 3) reliance on our knowledge and understanding of firm, basic scientific principles, as well as our individual and collective accumulated experiences. Nevertheless, notwithstanding our best intentions to “stick to evidence-based medicine,” and irrespective of medical or surgical specialty, a significant portion of our daily clinical practices remain rooted in dogma, dictum and tradition. In other words, “that is how we always did it.” The field of infectious diseases is no exception, particularly surrounding the general overall concept of anti-infective therapies and specifically in relationship to how, when and why we prescribe antibiotics and for how long they are administered. Traditional infectious diseases practices that were once strictly adhered to — such as treating asymptomatic bacteriuria before total joint arthroplasty surgery, prolonged pre-emptive empiric administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics for type III open orthopedic fractures, and double or dual coverage for infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa — have since either convincingly been disproven as being beneficial or have come under closer scrutiny and are now carried out only in certain specific circumstances.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will provide up to $102.5 million over 7 years in renewed funding to the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group, or ARLG, the NIH announced.

Antibiotic prescribing at a small Veterans Affairs hospital improved following the implementation of antibiotic review at discharge, according to study findings.

Antibiotics treat common childhood infections such as streptococcal pharyngitis and otitis media. Additionally, antibiotics treat serious infections such as sepsis. However, 30% of the antibiotics prescribed in an outpatient setting are inappropriate, according to the CDC. This issue not only predisposes children to the risk for detrimental side effects (allergic reactions, Clostridioides difficle infection, etc.), but it is also is responsible for an inimical rise in antibiotic resistance in our communities.

Experts applauded a federal spending package passed by both houses of Congress this week that includes millions of dollars earmarked to fight antibiotic resistance and a bill meant to boost investments against neglected tropical diseases.