Antimicrob Resist Infect Control
December 2024
Background: Congestive heart failure has reached pandemic levels, and left-ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are increasingly used to treat refractory heart failure. Infection is a leading complication of LVADs. Despite numerous reports (most being retrospective), several knowledge gaps pertaining to the epidemiology and burden of an LVAD-associated infection (LVADi) remain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn patients with a health care-associated infection (HAI), lengths of stay and costs increased >150% from 2019 to 2023, and were 2 to 6 times greater compared to concurrent non-HAI patients with the same diagnoses. Unlike surgical HAI, no device-associated HAI occurred before hospital day 12. These findings highlight the possibly under-recognized influence of delayed discharges on device-associated HAIs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFare a leading cause of healthcare-associated infections worldwide. In particular, strains expressing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and carbapenemases pose serious treatment challenges, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to designate ESBL and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae as 'critical' threats to human health. Research efforts to combat these pathogens can be supported by accessibility to diverse and clinically relevant isolates for testing novel therapeutics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReports of infection in patients without epidemiologic links to prior outbreaks are scarce. We describe the genomic epidemiology of such a case in Western New York. Before emergence, the patient received >60 days of excess antibiotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAt our hospital, universal severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was performed upon admission and again after 2 inpatient days. As community-wide prevalence, admission, and vaccination rates varied, the number needed to benefit fluctuated between 16 and 769 and the cost per additional detection fluctuated between $800 and $29,400. These 2 metrics were negatively associated with new hospital admissions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: We performed a systematic review of comorbidities and symptoms of adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to evaluate comorbidities, symptoms, and severity.
Material And Methods: We searched databases and extracted comorbidities and symptoms from the included studies. We stratified the similar signs and symptoms in groups and on the basis of severity and compared them with stratified analysis.
Background: Cleanliness of hospital surfaces helps prevent healthcare-associated infections, but comparative evaluations of various cleaning strategies during COVID-19 pandemic surges and worker shortages are scarce.
Purpose And Methods: To evaluate the effectiveness of daily, enhanced terminal, and contingency-based cleaning strategies in an acute care hospital (ACH) and a long-term care facility (LTCF), using SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assays. Daily cleaning involved light dusting and removal of visible debris while a patient is in the room.
Objective: To quantitatively evaluate relationships between infection preventionists (IPs) staffing levels, nursing hours, and rates of 10 types of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
Design And Setting: An ambidirectional observation in a 528-bed teaching hospital.
Patients: All inpatients from July 1, 2012, to February 1, 2021.
JAC Antimicrob Resist
December 2021
Objectives: is a leading cause of community- and hospital-acquired infections. Successful treatment is hampered by its remarkable ability to rapidly develop resistance to antimicrobial agents, primarily through mutation. In response, WHO listed carbapenem-resistant as a Priority 1 (Critical) pathogen for research and development of new treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) B.1.1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExpert Rev Anti Infect Ther
January 2022
Introduction: As the prevalence of drug-resistant infections continues to outpace the development of new antibiotics, we must explore all reasonable options for enhancing the effectiveness of existing anti-infectives. The emergence of novel pathogens without initial drug treatments or vaccines, typified by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 pandemic, further underscores the need for non-pharmacologic adjunctive measures for infection management. Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) may represent such an adjunct.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfect Control Hosp Epidemiol
June 2022
Objective: We sought to contain a healthcare-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, to evaluate contributory factors, and to prevent future outbreaks.
Design: Quasi-experimental cluster-control outbreak evaluation.
Methods: All patients and staff on the outbreak ward (case cluster), and randomly selected patients and staff on COVID-19 wards (positive control cluster) and a non-COVID-19 wards (negative control cluster) underwent reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing.
Prospective serial sampling of 70 patients revealed clinically relevant cycle thresholds (Ct) occurring 9, 26, and 36 days after symptom onset. Race, gender, and corticosteroids apparently did not influence RNA positivity. In a retrospective analysis of 180 patients, initial Ct did not correlate with requirements for admission or intensive care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Resist Infect Control
July 2020
Background: Rat bite fever is a systemic febrile illness caused by infection with the Gram-negative bacillus Streptobacillus moniliformis following a bite, scratch, or contact with excrement. Only 26 cases of native valve endocarditis have been reported to date. We could find no other reports of severe Streptobacillus endocarditis requiring valve replacement in a young, pregnant patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Agents Chemother
September 2020
Over the past two decades, has emerged as a leading cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. Of particular concern are panresistant strains, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to designate carbapenem-resistant as a priority 1 (critical) pathogen for research and development of new antibiotics. A key component in supporting this effort is accessibility to diverse and clinically relevant strains for testing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEngagement of frontline staff, along with senior leadership, in competition-style healthcare-associated infection reduction efforts, combined with electronic clinical decision support tools, appeared to reduce antibiotic regimen initiations for urinary tract infections (P = .01). Mean monthly standardized infection and device utilization ratios also decreased (P < .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a patient with risk factors for both microbial keratitis and endophthalmitis, which were initially challenging to distinguish. Cultures of corneal scrapings yielded several organisms, including an uncultivable Gram-negative rod, eventually identified as . is so named because most strains have been isolated in the Negev, a desert region of southern Israel.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReports of antibiotic stewardship (AS) integration into the > 1000 United States internal medicine and family practice residency core curricula are scarce, but residents value such training. To help address this gap, and the projected shortage of physicians with training for establishing and leading an AS program (ASP), we describe the rationale for, and the output and shortcomings of, a dedicated AS rotation. Residents critically review, in real-time, inpatient antibiotic orders, provide feedback to the prescribers, learn the mechanics and requirements of an ASP, and complete a preliminary quality improvement project.
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