Respiratory Infections News

Sitting within two seats of a sick person on an airplane — or in the rows directly behind or in front of them — could increase a passenger’s probability of getting a respiratory infection by more than 80%, researchers said.

New carbapenem-nonsusceptible Acinetobacter baumannii infections occur “almost exclusively” in patients who have stayed at least 1 night in a health care facility or have an indwelling device, according findings from a 4-year multisite surveillance project published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Outpatient antibiotic prescribing in the United States remained unchanged over a 3-year period despite efforts to limit inappropriate antimicrobial use, according to researchers.

BOSTON — Researchers reported that the immediate initiation of isoniazid preventive therapy for tuberculosis during pregnancy produced an unexpectedly high incidence rate of severe treatment-related adverse events among women with HIV. However, they said the rate was comparable to that among women who initiated therapy postpartum, suggesting that women should be given a choice of when to initiate therapy.

BOSTON — More women than men presented findings at this year’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections — a first for the meeting, according the organizers.

BOSTON — For the first time, at this year’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, more women than men presented findings at the meeting, according to CROI Chair Judith S. Currier, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles. The first authors of 537 of the 990 abstracts that were accepted this year were women, she said.

A daily antituberculosis regimen prevented rifampicin resistance and was more effective than an intermittent regimen among patients with HIV with pulmonary tuberculosis who were receiving antiretroviral therapy, according to findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

BOSTON — The addition of systematic urine screening to sputum screening identified more cases of tuberculosis and was associated with a 50% increase in treatment among hospitalized patients with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, according to findings from the STAMP trial.

BOSTON — Results of a phase 2 randomized clinical trial show that up to twice the standard daily dose of rifampin was safe in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. The findings suggest that TB therapy can be shortened using higher doses, which could potentially improve outcomes without increasing toxicity.

BOSTON — Adding the HIV drug dolutegravir to rifampin-based TB therapy appeared to be safe and effective in coinfected patients, according to 24-week phase 3b data from the INSPIRING trial.