Respiratory Infections News

More than a third of immunocompromised individuals in the Houston area participated in cleanup activities after Hurricane Harvey last year that could have placed them at risk for invasive mold infections, and most did not wear the personal protective equipment that is recommended by health agencies, according to findings presented at the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service conference this week.

In mid-2014, Mickey Kertesz, PhD, was part of a team researching the genetics of human pathogens at Stanford University. At that time, their work had only what the Israeli-born entrepreneur called “theoretical applications” for next-generation sequencing, but its human relevance would soon become clear.

Although the incidence of tuberculosis is decreasing in the United States, the CDC recently warned that progress toward the elimination of the disease in the country remains slow, and it is unlikely that TB will be eradicated in this century.

Seventeen years ago, on Oct. 2, 2001, an astute ID physician in Florida made a diagnosis of probable anthrax meningitis in a man who was admitted to the ED. This was accomplished with his old school policy approach of personally looking at the cerebrospinal fluid Gram’s stain. That diagnosis and its consequences, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon, created headlines around the world. It was the first diagnosed case in a series of anthrax bioterrorism attacks that sickened 22 Americans, killing five, after anthrax spores had been mailed to members of congress, the media and others. That astute ID clinician was my co-author, Larry M. Bush, MD, FACP.

Almost 2 million additional cases of influenza could have been averted last season if 70% of Americans got the vaccine — a national target for overall coverage.

African giant pouched rats that are trained to detect tuberculosis identified hundreds of cases that were missed by clinic-based testing in Tanzania, according to findings recently published in Pediatric Research.

Patients who developed influenza or pneumonia had an increased risk for MI or stroke after the infection, according to a study published in the European Respiratory Journal.

Researchers have concluded that health care encounters for acute lower respiratory infections in young children, as well as in older children and adults, are associated with short-term exposure to elevated airborne fine particulate matter no larger than 2.5 m in diameter, or PM2.5.

A genetic signature predicted the progression of tuberculosis in household contacts of active cases up to 2 years before disease onset, according to findings published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, or GHIT, recently announced that it has devoted 1.6 billion yen — or approximately $15.5 million — to advance investigational drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis and malaria.