Bacterial Infections News

HOUSTON — A Staphylococcus aureus screening program paired with genomic sequencing and electronic health data improved a New York hospital’s ability to identify transmissions and patients at high risk, according to a study.

Assessing children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia for certain objective measures of clinical stability could help shorten their stays, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

Replacing contaminated sinks did not end an outbreak of multidrug-resistant bacteria in a Japanese pediatric ward but other infection prevention measures did, such as forbidding mouth-washing using sink water, researchers reported.

The FDA this week approved the antibiotic Zevtera for the treatment of three bacterial infections 17 years after it was first submitted to the agency.

During the winter holidays, a 12-year-old girl was seen in her primary care clinic with fever, fatigue, cough and sore throat. At that time, she was thought to likely have strep throat, but her rapid strep test was negative.

Diagnostic stewardship, along with targeted prevention efforts and a testing and treatment clinical care pathway, reduced hospital-onset cases of Clostridioides difficile by more than 50% in a children’s hospital, researchers reported.

Three pediatric hospitals that discontinued contact precautions for MRSA did not see an associated increase in MRSA over the course of the next 4 years, according to researchers published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

Researchers linked more than 1 million deaths in Africa in 2019 to antimicrobial resistance, more than half of which were linked to just four pathogens.

STD leaders this week called on the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency over congenital syphilis and dedicate $1 billion to addressing sexually transmitted infections in the United States.

The Infectious Diseases in Children Symposium will bid farewell this year to a couple of longtime presenters.