Infection

Rheumatology patients treated with interleukin inhibitors have an increased risk for serious infections, opportunistic infections and cancer, according to data published in JAMA Open Network.

DENVER — At the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meeting, Robert V. O’Toole, MD, spoke about the effect topical vancomycin powder has on fracture surgery with regard to bacteriology and antibiotic susceptibilities. He said that use of vancomycin powder does not create more infections with pathogens that are difficult to treat compared to use without it.

Norovirus has become the leading cause of medically attended acute gastroenteritis in countries with national rotavirus vaccination programs, including the United States, and is a common cause of outbreaks worldwide. There is still no licensed vaccine against norovirus, but there are promising candidates in the pipeline, experts said, and researchers are working to define which genotypes and populations to target.

LAS VEGAS — Older patients with distal radius fractures experienced faster recovery when treated with internal fixation using a volar locking plate system compared with external fixation, percutaneous pinning or casting, according to results presented at the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting.

LOS ANGELES — In this exclusive video from GI Outlook 2019, Bret T. Petersen, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., discusses the safe and adequate reprocessing of endoscopes.

A nitric oxide-eluting, disposable hemodialysis catheter insert may lower mortality rates for patients with kidney disease by preventing infection and thrombosis.

NEW YORK — Infection eradication and limited stem migration occurred at 2-year minimum follow-up in patients who underwent staged total hip arthroplasty revision due to infection using a femoral impaction bone grafting technique. The results were similar to those seen with implantation of primary cemented taper-slip prostheses, according to a presenter at the Musculoskeletal Infection Society Annual Open Scientific Meeting.

Persistent dysregulated immune response after hospital discharge, which was common among patients who were hospitalized for sepsis, may increase the risks for hospital readmission and death, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.

There have been nearly 1,100 measles cases in the United States in the first half of 2019 — more cases of measles than in any year since the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. As of July 25, 30 states have reported cases of measles, with outbreaks currently ongoing in five jurisdictions across the country.

Researchers estimated that approximately 23% of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, infections in the United States are treated with new anti-CRE antibiotics compared with about 28% of infections treated with IV polymyxins.