Gastrointestinal Infections News

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, voted unanimously to recommend that children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years be vaccinated against hepatitis A virus if they have not already received the vaccine, and that all patients at least 1 year old with HIV be vaccinated.

The number of outbreaks caused by Cryptosporidium, or Crypto, increased approximately 13% each year between 2009 and 2017, researchers said.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, Secretary Rebekah Gee of the Louisiana Department of Health, Secretary James LeBlanc of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, and Asegua Therapeutics have agreed on a model to implement the health department’s innovative payment model for hepatitis C treatment, according to a press release.

The FDA announced today that it issued warning letters to Cali Botanicals of Folsom, California, and Kratom NC of Wilmington, North Carolina, for “illegally selling unapproved, misbranded kratom-containing drug products with unproven claims about their ability to treat or cure opioid addiction and withdrawal symptoms.”

Treatment with Sovaldi and ribavirin was well-tolerated and highly effective in children aged 3 years to less than 12 years in pediatric patients with hepatitis C genotype 2 or genotype 3, according to a study published in Hepatology.

While most countries in the European Union and the European Economic Area have reported a decline in acute hepatitis B rates over the last decade, reports showed an increase in physicians discovering cases of chronic hepatitis B, according to data published by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

In a recently published commentary, Chelsea Elwood, MD, from the University of British Columbia, and colleagues advised that Canadian guidelines should recommend universal screening for hepatitis C in pregnant women as they do for hepatitis B and HIV to reduce the risk for vertical transmission.

It was my first week of intern year, in the medical ICU. He presented in extremis and died within 90 minutes. He was reportedly bitten by his dog 3 days prior. I remember leaving the MICU in tears, overcome with emotion, feelings of guilt and helplessness, wishing I could have changed his outcome. When his admission blood cultures later grew Capnocytophaga canimorsus, I was intrigued. I was unfamiliar with the organism at the time and yearned to learn more. Henceforth, I was “hooked on ID,” forever.

Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, continues to be a significant pathogen in both hospitals and community-based settings. The associated morbidity, mortality and health care costs have prompted many to strengthen infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship strategies to minimize transmission and recurrence. Optimizing these efforts is a tough task because of the broad array of CDI risk factors. Recent antibiotic exposure — especially to fluoroquinolones, clindamycin, carbapenems and third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins — along with chemotherapy, proton-pump inhibitors, immunosuppression, advanced age, comorbidities such as renal dysfunction and hospitalization duration are known CDI risk factors. The frequent exposure to antimicrobials and health care settings, along with higher rates of C. difficile colonization in the immunosuppressed population, poses an appreciable conundrum to clinicians who are trying to reduce CDI risk.

Today we have access to a multitude of new and novel medications, biologic agents, medical devices, imaging modalities, and surgical and nonsurgical invasive procedures, which have transformed the practice of internal medicine from what was essentially a diagnostic profession to one that is now heavily focused on treatment. Although the subspecialty of ID has been treatment oriented for many years, the advent of many new and sophisticated tests means we should turn our attention to potential improper use of the clinical laboratory — a major cost center in any health care system. This brings up the less often addressed but surely relevant concept of laboratory stewardship.