Antimicrobials News

Every additional day of antibiotic administration in the NICU results in lower anaerobe richness and butyrate producers, with more potential pathogens dominating the gut, study findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggest.

Researchers customized a Pennsylvania hospital’s electronic medical record to automate antimicrobial stewardship documentation and found that the tweak increased the number of charts that could be reviewed and was associated with a decrease in antimicrobial use, drug resistance and Clostridioides difficile infections.

Researchers found a dose-dependent association between antibiotic use in infancy and the development of asthma in childhood, regardless of the type of antibiotic administered or the timing of the prescription, according to study results published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The researchers reported that the odds of future asthma diagnoses increased with each additional antibiotic prescription.

Physicians were more likely to receive a five-star satisfaction rating on a direct-to-consumer, or DTC, telemedicine platform when they prescribed antibiotics for pediatric respiratory tract infections, or RTIs. Researchers noted that pediatricians were less likely to prescribe antibiotics than other clinicians, yet had higher satisfaction ratings.

Findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis showed that more than 16% of patients who acquired antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, or ARB, did not have any antimicrobial exposure, researchers reported.

Children with complicated UTIs were safely and effectively treated with the combination antibiotic Avycaz compared with cefepime, according to findings from a phase 2 study published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, will provide up to $20.7 million over 2 years to VenatoRx Pharmaceuticals as part of a cost-sharing contract to develop an antibiotic to combat drug-resistant infections, the pharmaceutical company announced.

Clofazimine was a safe and well-tolerated part of a multidrug regimen used to treat children with odontogenic Mycobacterium abscessus infection that was caused during an outbreak at a dental facility, according to study results published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

In a substudy of the AMAZES trial, azithromycin, when used as a treatment for exacerbations in patients with severe asthma, reduced Haemophilus influenzae load but also increased resistance to antibiotics, researchers reported in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

An assessment of hemodialysis facilities in Philadelphia County revealed that almost 60% of new outpatient intravenous antimicrobial starts last year were inappropriate, researchers reported.