Antibiotic Prescribing in Adults Presenting with Pharyngitis Pre- and Post-Implementation of a Rapid Group A Streptococcus Test.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis is the most common bacterial cause of acute pharyngitis and is often over treated with unnecessary antibiotics. The purpose was to evaluate if implementation of a rapid antigen detection test (RADT) for GAS would reduce the number of inappropriately prescribed antibiotics for adult patients presenting with symptoms of pharyngitis. This was a retrospective cohort study of adult urgent care clinic patients pre- and post-implementation of a GAS RADT.

: Disinfectants and Implications for Infection Control.

is a rapidly emerging pathogen and is able to cause severe infections with high mortality rates. It is frequently misidentified in most clinical laboratories, thus requiring more specialized identification techniques. Furthermore, several clinical isolates have been found to be multidrug resistant and there is evidence of nosocomial transmission in outbreak fashion.

Candidiasis and the impact of flow cytometry on antifungal drug discovery.

Invasive candidiasis continues to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality as well as substantial health care costs nationally and globally. One of the contributing factors is the development of resistance to antifungal agents that are already in clinical use. Moreover, there are known treatment limitations with all of the available antifungal agents.

An Optimized Lock Solution Containing Micafungin, Ethanol and Doxycycline Inhibits Candida albicans and Mixed C. albicans - Staphyloccoccus aureus Biofilms.

Candida albicans is a major cause of catheter-related bloodstream infections and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Due to the propensity of C. albicans to form drug-resistant biofilms, the current standard of care includes catheter removal; however, reinsertion may be technically challenging or risky.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention and Feedback to Infectious Disease Specialists: A Case Study in High-Dose Daptomycin.

Infectious Diseases specialists have used high-dose daptomycin (≥6 mg/kg/day) in select patients with difficult to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) infections to optimize outcomes. Antimicrobial stewardship programs enforce antimicrobial formulary restrictions; however, interventions specifically aimed at Infectious Disease specialists can be particularly challenging. The purpose of this study was to create a high-dose daptomycin algorithm for Infectious Disease specialists that are consistent with best-practices.

In vitro analysis of finasteride activity against Candida albicans urinary biofilm formation and filamentation.

Candida albicans is the 3rd most common cause of catheter-associated urinary tract infections, with a strong propensity to form drug-resistant catheter-related biofilms. Due to the limited efficacy of available antifungals against biofilms, drug repurposing has been investigated in order to identify novel agents with activities against fungal biofilms. Finasteride is a 5-α-reductase inhibitor commonly used for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, with activity against human type II and III isoenzymes.

Paradoxical antifungal activity and structural observations in biofilms formed by echinocandin-resistant Candida albicans clinical isolates.

Echinocandin-resistant clinical isolates of Candida albicans have been reported, and key-hot spot mutations in the FKS1 gene, which encodes a major glucan synthase subunit, have been identified in these (caspofungin-resistant [CAS-R]) strains. Although these mutations result in phenotypic resistance to echinocandins in planktonic cells, there is little data on antifungal susceptibilities of CAS-R C. albicans strains within biofilms.

Antifungal lock therapy.

The widespread use of intravascular devices, such as central venous and hemodialysis catheters, in the past 2 decades has paralleled the increasing incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CR-BSIs). Candida albicans is the fourth leading cause of hospital-associated BSIs. The propensity of C.

In vitro analyses of ethanol activity against Candida albicans biofilms.

Candida albicans is a common cause of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CR-BSI). Ethanol (EtOH) lock therapy has been attempted despite limited data on optimal dose and duration. Concentrations of 35% EtOH or higher for a minimum of 4 h demonstrated a >99% reduction in mature C.

Fatal disseminated Cryptococcus gattii infection in New Mexico.

We report a case of fatal disseminated infection with Cryptococcus gattii in a patient from New Mexico. The patient had no history of recent travel to known C. gattii-endemic areas.

Site of infection rather than vancomycin MIC predicts vancomycin treatment failure in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia.

Background: Therapeutic use of vancomycin is characterized by decreased susceptibilities and increasing reports of clinical failures. Few studies have examined the clinical outcomes of patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia treated with vancomycin. The primary objective was to compare clinical outcomes of patients with MRSA bacteraemia treated according to standard of care practices.

Diagnostic and therapeutic evaluation of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) skin and soft tissue infections in the emergency department.

Background: Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections commonly present as skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs). Treatment often includes incision and drainage with or without adjunctive antibiotics. Emergency department (ED) pharmacists wished to provide specific data to emergency physicians to better inform antibiotic choices for patients with SSTIs.