Antibiotic

World Antibiotic Awareness Week is being recognized this year from Nov. 18 to 24. Launched in 2015, the campaign “aims to increase global awareness of antibiotic resistance and to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policy makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance,” according to WHO.

An analysis of more than 1.1 million urgent care encounters in a large health care network revealed an “intense” variation in their antibiotic prescribing practices, according to a recent study. Researchers said the data can help to inform and improve stewardship programs.

Infectious Disease News attended the World Anti-Microbial Resistance Congress in Washington, D.C., and asked Cornelius (Neil) J. Clancy, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of the extensively drug-resistant pathogen lab and mycology program at the University of Pittsburgh, what he saw and heard during the meeting.

WASHINGTON — In this video from the World Anti-Microbial Resistance Congress, Debra A. Goff, PharmD, FIDSA, an infectious diseases specialist at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, discusses the reasons why hospitals are slow to use new antibiotics.

Prospective audit and feedback is a staple intervention used by antimicrobial stewardship programs, or ASPs, to reduce antimicrobial use and improve patient outcomes. The intensity of the approach can vary.

In this video from the World Anti-Microbial Resistance Congress, Kerry LaPlante, PharmD, FCCP, FIDSA, a professor of pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, discusses the pharmacist’s role in antibiotic stewardship.

The fifth annual World Anti-Microbial Resistance Congress — to be held in Washington, D.C., from Nov. 7 to 8 — will address antibiotic research and development, diagnostics, antimicrobial stewardship and innovation.

As eye care practitioners, we seek to preserve the vision and ocular health of our patients — we are the gatekeepers who can find eye disease before it progresses. Just as we are vigilant in looking for early stage glaucoma, we must also look for dry eye disease, even in asymptomatic patients.

Eyevance Pharmaceuticals has acquired Tobradex ST and Natacyn from Novartis, according to a press release.

Recently updated guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of adults with community-associated pneumonia, or CAP, stressed the importance of de-escalation of antibiotic therapy and made stricter recommendations on when to use broad-spectrum antibiotics for the treatment of patients with CAP and risk factors for drug-resistant organisms.