Gastrointestinal Infections News

Cepheid received the CE-IVD mark for the Xpert HCV VL Fingerstick, a molecular test designed to detect and quantify hepatitis C RNA levels from a fingerstick blood sample, according to a press release.

The Louisiana Department of Health is currently developing a “subscription style” payment plan with pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide state residents with access to hepatitis C treatment.

Despite the consensus that using more than two antibiotics to treat bacterial infections may produce more harm than benefit, research published in npj Systems Biology and Applications demonstrates that nearly 8,000 combinations using four or five antimicrobial drugs are effective in treating infection with Escherichia coli.

Contaminated food sickens an estimated 48 million people in the United States each year, leading to 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths, according to the CDC.

Transplantation with hepatitis C nucleic acid test-positive kidneys in HCV-negative recipients followed by direct-acting antiviral therapy demonstrated improved patient outcomes and significant cost-savings, according to results of a recent modelling study.

Rotavirus vaccination in southern China reduces the likelihood of rotavirus gastroenteritis among children 4 years and younger, with herd effects observed in some areas, according to research published in JAMA Network Open. However, this vaccine is not included in the country’s national immunization programs.

Yesterday, officials raised concern that several passengers who flew from Algeria to Perpignan, France, may have been exposed to cholera through an 8-year-old child with active vomiting and diarrhea, according to a report from Reuters. Although cholera has been ruled out as a source of the child’s illness, the event emphasizes the importance of maintaining infectious disease prevention strategies while traveling.

Modelling results from a recent study showed that transplantation of hepatitis C-positive livers into uninfected patients with preemptive direct-acting antiviral therapy was a cost-effective strategy and could improve health outcomes, especially in those with higher MELD scores.

Community-onset Clostridium difficile infection, or CDI, accounts for a large proportion of CDI cases in the Veterans Affairs system, according to study findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Researchers reported that patients with community-onset CDI tend to be younger and their cases less severe than patients with health care-onset CDI but are more likely to experience recurrent infections.

Results of a modeling study showed that in dense urban settings with high prevalence of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs, HCV treatment-as-prevention strategies will have little impact over 10 years unless coverage is greatly expanded.