Gastrointestinal Infections News

Thanks to a highly effective vaccination program in the United States, measles was declared eliminated in 2000. Since then, imported cases of measles have caused numerous outbreaks in vulnerable populations throughout the country, and experts warn that the disease could easily make a comeback if vaccination rates continue to drop.

The phone call came while I was celebrating Christmas with my husband’s family during my first year of medical school. My grandfather, a World War II veteran, both a best friend and hero of mine, had died. He died of septic shock secondary to MRSA in the ICU in which I would eventually rotate in as a resident. He died under the care of an intensivist who would ultimately become my attending. As my training continued, I was drawn to the ICU; the sickest of the sick. There are profound ties between infectious diseases and critical care. In the ICU, patients are either presenting with life-threatening infections, or, in the process of providing critical care, we place devices that carry risk for infection, and thus every day demands attention to the appropriate diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infection. As an infectious disease and critical care physician, I have been blessed to have many physician mentors in both fields. But truth be told, my greatest mentor is the one I lost. Every day, his death challenges me to continue to improve the outcomes for our critically ill patients.

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Although guidelines do not recommend probiotics for the prevention of Clostridioides difficile infection, or CDI, researchers continue to study them as a potential solution.

VIENNA — In this exclusive video from the International Liver Congress 2019, Heather Valerio, from the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia, provides an overview of the Enhancing Treatment of Hepatitis C in Opioid Substitution Settings Engage study of hepatitis C outcomes among people who inject drugs.

A recent case-control study identified antibiotic use as a risk factor for community-associated Clostridioides difficile infection, or CA-CDI, in children.

VIENNA — In the face of the remaining gaps in the hepatitis C care cascade, timely screening, monitoring and linkage to care by general practitioners coupled with early treatment by specialists could effectively reduce the hepatic and extrahepatic burden of the virus, according to a real-world analysis presented at the International Liver Congress 2019.

VIENNA — Patients with hepatitis C genotype 3 and compensated cirrhosis had higher rates of sustained virologic response after treatment with Epclusa and ribavirin than with Epclusa alone or combined Sovaldi and Daklinza with ribavirin.

A multistate outbreak of Salmonella Carrau infection has been linked to pre-cut melons from Caito Foods.

Health officials linked a multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli to ground beef, although no common supplier, distributor or brand has yet been identified.