Publications by authors named "Helen L Johnston"
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the occurrence of candidemia, a fungal infection, in patients with and without COVID-19, highlighting differences in patient characteristics based on their COVID-19 status.
- An analysis using data from the CDC revealed that around 25.5% of candidemia patients tested positive for COVID-19, with those infected showing higher rates of ICU care and treatments like mechanical ventilation.
- The findings indicate that patients with COVID-19 had a significantly higher in-hospital mortality rate (62.5%) compared to those without the virus (32.1%), emphasizing the need for preventive measures against candidemia in COVID-19 patients.
Background: Candidemia is a common healthcare-associated bloodstream infection with high morbidity and mortality. There are no current estimates of candidemia burden in the United States (US).
Methods: In 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted active population-based surveillance for candidemia through the Emerging Infections Program in 45 counties in 9 states encompassing approximately 17 million persons (5% of the national population).
Candidemia, a bloodstream infection caused by Candida species, is typically considered a health care-associated infection, with known risk factors including the presence of a central venous catheter, receipt of total parenteral nutrition or broad-spectrum antibiotics, recent abdominal surgery, admission to an intensive care unit, and prolonged hospitalization (1,2). Injection drug use (IDU) is not a common risk factor for candidemia; however, in the context of the ongoing opioid epidemic and corresponding IDU increases, IDU has been reported as an increasingly common condition associated with candidemia (3) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (4). Little is known about the epidemiology of candidemia among persons who inject drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground. Approximately 4 million Americans receive nursing home (NH) care annually. Nursing home residents commonly have risk factors for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), including advanced age and antibiotic exposures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Little is known about the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) among children, particularly children ≤3 years of age in whom colonization is common but pathogenicity uncertain. We sought to describe pediatric CDI incidence, clinical presentation, and outcomes across age groups.
Methods: Data from an active population- and laboratory-based CDI surveillance in 10 US geographic areas during 2010-2011 were used to identify cases (ie, residents with C difficile-positive stool without a positive test in the previous 8 weeks).