Gastrointestinal Infections News

Although subspecialization training encompassing two fellowships is almost unheard of, this experience is where I began my journey in infectious disease clinical practice. As a fourth-year medical student rotating on the pediatric infectious disease service, getting the opportunity to observe the breadth of disease in the category, gain a deeper understanding of “bugs and drugs” and hone my diagnostic skills from truly gifted physicians was awe-inspiring. What impressed me most was that all of the attendings I met were both excellent diagnosticians and had excellent general practitioner skills.

In recent years, almost half of all U.S. states have reported outbreaks of person-to-person transmission of hepatitis A virus, especially among people who use drugs, people experiencing homelessness, and men who have sex with men. Infectious Disease News asked Kelly L. Moore, MD, MPH, a preventive medicine physician and adjunct associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt School of Medicine, if HAV vaccination should be recommended for all adults in light of the ongoing outbreaks. Moore chairs the Hepatitis Vaccines Work Group for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Much attention has been paid to hepatitis B and C viruses, as is evident from public health programs and the drug development pipeline. But three other hepatitis viruses also cause disease in humans: hepatitis A, D and E.

Harvoni joins other direct-acting antivirals in demonstrating safety and high efficacy in younger pediatric patients with chronic hepatitis C, specifically those aged 3 years to younger than 6 years, according to results published in Hepatology.

With $7 million from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, seven opioid treatment programs announced entry into an ongoing study of telemedicine for treatment of hepatitis C.

Early evidence suggests that fecal microbiota transplantation, or FMT, an established treatment for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, may be able to reduce intestinal colonization of antibiotic-resistant organisms, although more research is needed to determine its safety and efficacy, researchers reported.

Researchers found that a novel “education and culture change” program for environmental services workers resulted in behavioral changes and sustained cleaning improvements in five acute-care hospitals in New York City.

Researchers found that population density and water balance were key factors influencing the occurrence of hepatitis E outbreaks, according to a study published in Nature.

Oral antibiotics did not affect the immunogenicity of the rotavirus vaccine in infants, according to findings published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

Researchers discovered fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli in 8.8% of fecal samples collected from healthy adult women with no recent documented UTI, mostly from two pandemic strains, according to findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.