Infection Control News

Among kidney transplant recipients in France, elevations of three specific biomarkers –including those showing inflammation, cardiac injury and thrombosis – were significantly associated with an increased risk for mortality due to COVID-19.

For patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis, infection with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia led to worsening clinical outcomes, including increased in mortality, in a 21-year period.

According to this study, patients categorized as “non-Hispanic Black” and Hispanic who were on hemodialysis faced significantly greater risk for contracting COVID-19 during the first surge of cases in New York City.

One of the challenges health care providers face in administering COVID-19 vaccines is vaccine hesitancy, especially among disadvantaged populations.

The number of patients receiving treatment for end-stage kidney disease in April was 0.6% lower than a year ago, the first such year-to-year drop in patient census since 1980, a new study shows.

For patients receiving hemodialysis in the United States, prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 led to lower risks for subsequent reinfection and for the development of clinically manifest COVID-19.

AKI was more common in hospitalizations for COVID-19 than influenza, with study results indicating that AKI with the former led to more severe outcomes, including the need for mechanical ventilation and increased mortality.

Trends in COVID-19 prevalence and mortality were similar among patients on home dialysis and those on in-center dialysis, with changes throughout the pandemic mirroring that of the general population in the United States.

Patients with kidney failure who received the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech showed varying degrees of antibody and T-cell responses, with those on dialysis achieving greater protection from the vaccine than transplant recipients.

Transplanting organs from donors with hepatitis C virus may increase the number of transplants performed and reduce waitlist times, but the optimal treatment strategy for recipients requires further investigation, according to a speaker.