Top stories in infectious disease: 7-day antibiotic therapy for gram-negative bacteremia, probiotics ‘viable strategy’ for CDI prevention

Among the top stories in infectious disease is the finding that a 7-day regimen of antibiotic therapy for patients with gram-negative bacteremia is just as effective as the standard 14-day treatment. A meta-analysis found that using probiotics as prophylaxis for Clostridium difficile reduces the risk for infection among hospitalized patients by two-thirds. Other stories include vector-borne diseases more than tripling in the United States, 1 in 5 patients with gonorrhea not receiving the recommended front-line treatment, and the risk for morality being more than three times higher among patients with bloodstream infection caused by drug-resistant Escherichia coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae.

7-day antibiotic course noninferior to 14-day course for gram-negative bacteremia

For patients with gram-negative bacteremia, a 7-day regimen of antibiotic therapy was noninferior to the standard 14-day treatment, according to findings presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Read More.

Probiotics may be ‘viable strategy’ for CDI prevention

Using probiotics as a prophylaxis for Clostridium difficile was safe and reduced the risk for infection among hospitalized patients by two-thirds, according to a large meta-analysis published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Read More.

Vector-borne diseases more than triple in US, CDC says

The number of illnesses caused by the bite of infected mosquitoes, ticks and fleas has more than tripled in the United States, and the country is not fully prepared to handle the increased burden, CDC officials said today. Read More.

1 in 5 patients with gonorrhea gets wrong treatment

Gonorrhea is the second-most common notifiable disease in the United States behind chlamydia, with more than 468,000 cases reported in 2016. But unlike chlamydia, which is still reliably treated with antibiotics, gonorrhea has become increasingly drug resistant — potentially even untreatable in some cases — and new research shows that nearly one in five patients in the U.S. may not receive the recommended front-line treatment. Read More.

Data do not support piperacillin-tazobactam for drug-resistant BSIs

The risk for mortality was more than three times higher among patients with bloodstream infections caused by drug-resistant Escherichia coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae who received treatment with piperacillin-tazobactam compared with those who received meropenem, according to results of a randomized controlled trial. Read More.