Respiratory Infections News

Administering the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, via telehealth poses challenges, one of the tool’s developers told Healio Primary Care.

Household contacts of patients with drug-resistant TB should be treated for the infection under the assumption that they are also infected with drug-resistant TB, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai created the first algorithm of its kind in the United States to use artificial intelligence, combined with CT imaging of lungs and clinical data, to detect COVID-19, according to a press release.

Most of the US counties with the greatest number of COVID-19 cases have few, or no, infectious disease physicians, according to findings in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The FDA approved Merck’s Recarbrio today, a three-drug combination antibiotic injection for the treatment of hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia, or HABP, and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia, or VABP, in patients aged 18 years and older, according to a press release from the FDA.

As the country prepares to reopen, rapid and effective testing remains “the need of the hour.” In this episode, Dr. Pai discusses diagnostic testing for COVID-19, including which populations to prioritize for testing, available modalities and new options.

A new analysis published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society was unable to definitively identify two distinct subphenotypes of COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Influenza vaccination reduced the risk for influenza by more than 40%, with no effect on coronaviruses or other non-influenza respiratory viruses, according to a study assessing seasonal influenza and coronaviruses over seven seasons.

Those who manage primary care practices should think outside the box and advocate for payment reform in order to rebound from the disruptions caused by COVID-19, members of a panel said during a webinar hosted by the Primary Care Development Corporation.

Following criticism from experts regarding validity, The Lancet retracted a study that raised questions about the usefulness and safety of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19.