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Top stories in infectious disease: Doxycycline prophylaxis may prevent STIs, UTIs increasingly diagnosed in virtual care setting

Among the top stories in infectious disease last week were findings that showed doxycycline prophylaxis may be a promising strategy to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections, and a study that indicated UTIs are increasingly diagnosed in outpatient settings through virtual care.

Other highlights included a study that found an automated 72-hour antibiotic time-out alert encouraged more frequent de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotics, research that determined shared patient rooms were noninferior to private rooms for preventing transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, and findings that demonstrated frequent pubic hair grooming did not increase STI prevalence.

Doxycycline prophylaxis promising for bacterial sexually transmitted infection prevention

Findings from a state-of-the-art review showed that doxycycline prophylaxis may be a promising strategy to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections. Read more.

UTIs increasingly diagnosed in virtual care setting

The rate of UTIs diagnosed in the outpatient setting increased between 2008 and 2017, especially among older adults and in patients receiving virtual care, researchers reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Read more.

72-hour time-out encourages de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotics

The addition of an automated 72-hour antibiotic time-out alert within the electronic medical record system at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis led to more frequent de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotics compared with the period before its implementation, researchers reported. Read more.

Shared patient rooms noninferior to private rooms for halting extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae transmission

In terms of preventing transmission, isolating patients with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae on contact precautions in a hospital room with multiple beds is noninferior to isolating them on contract precautions in a private room with one bed, according to a study from the Netherlands published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Read more.

Study finds no association between ‘extreme grooming,’ STIs in women

Researchers found no association between frequent pubic hair grooming and STI prevalence among female students at one Midwestern college, according to study results published in PLoS One. Read more.