Antimicrobial Drug Resistance

I was always interested in infectious diseases, owing to the vast breadth of the field.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America has issued new guidance for the clinical treatment of three common drug-resistant pathogens.

Antimicrobial cold spray surface coatings performed well in lab experiments, reducing contamination, and could supplement current infection prevention and control measures, researchers said.

A computerized clinical decision support tool safely improved Clostridioides difficile test stewardship at two facilities in Seattle, according to a study in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Researchers developed a web-based tool to identify facilities at risk for intaking patients colonized or infected with multidrug-resistant organisms, which may aid health departments in combating the infections, they said.

Healio and Healio LIVE received seven APEX awards, including one Grand Award — the highest recognition — presented to Infectious Diseases in Children.

Unpasteurized, or raw, milk can serve as a reservoir for antimicrobial-resistant genes, according to a study published in Microbiome.

Overall antimicrobial use in hospitals occurred at similar rates in 2011 and 2015, although differences were noted in certain patient or antimicrobial groups, according to findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

A pair of researchers recently suggested in Science that sewage could be used for surveillance of antimicrobial resistance because it could be implemented quickly at a low cost. According to the report, such a system would have “substantial and rapid benefits” in many settings, including resource-poor ones.

Patients previously treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia may require alternative therapies because of high rates of resistance to the agent, according to a review examining the epidemiology of the infection.