Respiratory Infections News

In resource-limited settings, urine-based screening of all hospitalized patients with HIV is a cost-effective strategy that could increase their life expectancy, according to a microsimulation modelling study published in The Lancet Global Health.

Results from a meta-analysis revealed that current or recent benzodiazepine use was linked to an increased risk for pneumonia.

Patients with influenza who received steroids after ICU admission, have a white blood count greater than 10 x 109/L on ICU admission, and have multiple nodules and cavities detected via CT imaging are at a higher risk for developing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis coinfection.

Patients hospitalized with an Enterobacteriaceae bloodstream infection who transitioned to oral step-down therapy demonstrated similar 30-day mortality rates and a modest reduction in the duration of hospital stay to those who continued IV therapy, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

I followed a somewhat circuitous route to a career in ID. In medical school and residency, I was strongly drawn to oncology but got a bit distracted by also falling in love with viruses, especially retroviruses. I worked in research virology labs all through college and medical school, and as retroviruses were considered as potentially causing common cancers in humans, that research was typically found not in ID but rather in oncology divisions. I came to UCSF in 1978 for my oncology fellowship and to work in Jay Levy’s retrovirus lab. But when an ID giant, Merle Sande, offered me the chance to start a medical oncology division at San Francisco General Hospital immediately following the end of my training, I eagerly accepted. I left retrovirus research forever, only to walk into the very beginning of the AIDS epidemic on July 1,st 1981, when I saw the first Kaposi sarcoma KSpatient admitted to SFGH. I started the world’s first comprehensive AIDS clinic with Connie Wofsy, my ID counterpart in 1983 and when HIV was discovered (in part by Jay), I realized I might get back to my favorite viruses! While I still feel as if part of me is in oncology, my community is clearly ID! Definitely hooked on ID!

Modern medicine may face dangerous setbacks if the antimicrobial market does not see a positive shift soon, experts agree.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), otitis media (OM) and acute bacterial rhinosinusitis (ABRS) are common childhood illnesses. Although OM is more typically a childhood infection, CAP and ABRS are also common in adults. However, important differences exist in pathogenesis and treatment. Causative pathogens differ between children and adults. Streptococcus pneumoniae remains the predominant pathogen, and Haemophilus influenzae causes CAP less frequently in children than in adults, although this continues to evolve with the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines and may yield future changes to recommended empiric therapy. Additionally, Mycoplasma pneumoniae is the primary atypical pathogen in pediatric CAP but usually only in certain age groups with specific presenting features, and therefore it does not warrant universal empiric coverage.

Upper respiratory infections, or URIs, are more common among children who develop acute sinusitis, according to research published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Although respiratory syncytial virus was the most common cause of URI among children with sinusitis, 30% of patients with the condition had a new viral pathogen present in samples collected on the 10th day of symptoms, researchers said.

The Bolsa Familia Programme — a conditional cash transfer program in Brazil — directly affects tuberculosis treatment outcomes, demonstrating a 7.6% higher rate of cure, according to findings published in The Lancet Global Health.

Nearly all parents participating in a nationally representative poll follow evidence-based cold prevention strategies for their children, including improved hand hygiene and avoiding contact with people who are ill. However, results of the poll, conducted by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, show that more than half of parents still use supplements or “folklore” methods to prevent infection.