Antibiotic Therapy

Artificial intelligence can help predict the chance of resistant organisms appearing in sputum cultures in the ER, helping to guide therapy, according to findings presented during the ASM Microbe virtual meeting.

UTIs account for 1.1 million pediatric office visits annually and are a significant clinical syndrome in childhood. UTI is typically caused by a bacterial pathogen. The infection involves the lower urinary tract (ie, urethritis, cystitis) or the upper urinary tract (ie, pyelonephritis). Prompt treatment of pyelonephritis is important to prevent renal scarring and associated sequela such as hypertension and end-stage renal disease.

Outpatient use of the antibiotic azithromycin was associated with greater 5-year risk for CV death, non-CV death and all-cause mortality compared with amoxicillin, researchers reported.

All-cause readmission rates at 90 days among people who inject drugs and left the hospital against medical advice decreased when they were prescribed oral antibiotic therapy — including partial IV therapy and partial oral therapy — compared with patients who were not prescribed any antibiotics, according to findings in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Adults with uncomplicated acute appendicitis who were treated with antibiotics and did not need surgery at a later date were as satisfied with their treatment experience as those who went through surgery, according to a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial that appeared in JAMA Surgery.

NEW YORK — Physicians historically have relied on arbitrary lengths of antibiotic therapy for a variety of infections in pediatric patients, according to C. Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, associate professor of pediatrics and director of the pediatric infectious disease fellowship program at Vanderbilt University.

Much of published antimicrobial stewardship literature has focused on reducing the use of broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy. However, in addition to the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, prolonged antimicrobial use is also associated with the development of antimicrobial resistance. Durations of therapy often are determined upon discharge, and this transition period has not been a focus of many antimicrobial stewardship interventions.

Research published in Pediatrics suggests that infants aged 60 days and younger with bacteremic UTI could receive shorter courses of parenteral antibiotics without the risk for readmission or recurrent infection.

A hospital in France saw significant reductions in surgical delay, length of in-hospital stays and antibiotic therapy after establishing a multidisciplinary endocarditis team, according to results from an observational study.