Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
December 2024
Objective: To understand healthcare workers' (HCWs) beliefs and practices toward blood culture (BCx) use.
Design: Cross-sectional electronic survey and semi-structured interviews.
Setting: Academic hospitals in the United States.
Understanding the impact of different Candida species on patient outcomes is crucial for effective management and treatment strategies. This study aims to comprehensively analyze the association between Candida species and mortality in documented candidemia. We queried TriNetX, a global research network database, to identify patients diagnosed with candidemia through polymerase chain reaction from 2020-2023.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated the accuracy and completeness of four large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence tools. Most LLMs provided acceptable answers to commonly asked infection prevention questions (accuracy 98.9%, completeness 94.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCellulitis is a common skin infection often requiring antibiotic treatment. However, misdiagnosis and inappropriate antibiotic use contribute to antibiotic resistance and healthcare costs. We aimed to evaluate the impact of dermatology consultation on treatment modification in patients with suspected cellulitis and to determine whether dermatologists' evaluation can be used as a reference to diagnose suspected cellulitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol
November 2024
Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol
September 2024
Objectives: We assessed the effectiveness of heterologous vaccination strategy in immunocompromised individuals regarding COVID-19 outcomes, comparing it to homologous approaches.
Design: Systematic literature review/meta-analysis.
Methods: We searched PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, and Web of Science from January 1, 2020 to September 29, 2023.
Background: The timely management of rapidly evolving epidemiological scenarios caused by disease outbreaks is crucial to prevent devastating consequences. However, delayed laboratory diagnostics can hamper swift health policy and epidemic response, especially in remote regions such as the western Brazilian Amazon. The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volume and characteristics of emergency medical services (EMS) in Manaus, focusing on how the pandemic affected sensitive indicators such as response time and the use of advanced life support ambulances.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol
September 2024
Background: We investigated trends in (staph) bacteremia incidence stratified by methicillin susceptibility (methicillin-susceptible [MSSA] vs. methicillin-resistant [MRSA]) and onset designation (community-onset [CO] vs. hospital-onset [HO]).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurobrucellosis, caused by Brucella species, is a zoonotic infection that may involve the central nervous system. Although uncommon, it can manifest as a solitary intracranial mass. We report a case of neurobrucellosis in a 25-year-old woman from Peru who presented with headache, weight loss, and right-side hemiparesis and paresthesia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of alternative treatments for neurosyphilis. We searched MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus, and Web of Science from database inception to September 2023, for studies in neurosyphilis that compared penicillin monotherapy with other treatments. We focused on the impact of these therapies on treatment response, but also assessed data regarding reinfection and adverse drug events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol
April 2024
Objective: We performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination against post-COVID conditions (long COVID) in the pediatric population.
Design: Systematic literature review/meta-analysis.
Methods: We searched PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, and Web of Science from December 1, 2019, to August 14, 2023, for studies evaluating the COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against post-COVID conditions among vaccinated individuals < 21 years old who received at least 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Background: Penicillin's long-standing role as the reference standard in syphilis treatment has led to global reliance. However, this dependence presents challenges, prompting the need for alternative strategies. We performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of these alternative treatments against nonneurological syphilis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol
March 2024
We assessed the impact of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) on patient care using previously established criteria. Among 37 patients receiving mNGS testing, 16% showed results that had a positive clinical impact. While mNGS results may offer valuable supplementary information, results should be interpreted within the broader clinical context and evaluation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This scoping review aimed to describe studies that evaluate the management of cryptococcal meningitis (CM) using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts, types of shunts used, and clinically relevant patient outcomes.
Methods: We searched in the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science/Core collection, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and clinicaltrials.gov on 1 April 2022.
Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol
October 2023
Objective: We performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination against post-COVID conditions (long COVID) among fully vaccinated individuals.
Design: Systematic literature review/meta-analysis.
Methods: We searched PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, and Web of Science from December 1, 2019, to June 2, 2023, for studies evaluating the COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against post-COVID conditions among fully vaccinated individuals who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
February 2024
We used a strand-specific RT-qPCR to evaluate viral replication as a surrogate for infectiousness among 242 asymptomatic inpatients with a positive severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) admission test. Only 21 patients (9%) had detectable SARS-CoV-2 minus-strand RNA. Because most patients were found to be noninfectious, our findings support the suspension of asymptomatic admission testing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOpen Forum Infect Dis
September 2023
Background: Blood culture contamination may lead to misdiagnosis, overutilization of antibiotics, and prolonged length of stay. Blood specimen diversion devices can reduce contamination rates during blood culture collection procedures. We performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis evaluating the influence of blood specimen diversion devices in blood culture contamination rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Monkeypox (Mpox) is a reemerging, neglected viral disease. By May 2023, worldwide Mpox cases surpassed 87,000. Predictive factors for hospitalization with Mpox are lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOf the 2,668 patients admitted with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), 4% underwent prolonged isolation for >20 days. Reasons for extended isolation were inconsistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines in 25% of these patients and were questionable in 54% due to an ongoing critically ill condition at day 20 without CDC-defined immunocompromised status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To compare the long-term vaccine effectiveness between those receiving viral vector [Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1)] or inactivated viral (CoronaVac) primary series (2 doses) and those who received an mRNA booster (Pfizer/BioNTech) (the third dose) among healthcare workers (HCWs).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among HCWs (aged ≥18 years) in Brazil from January 2021 to July 2022. To assess the variation in the effectiveness of booster dose over time, we estimated the effectiveness rate by taking the log risk ratio as a function of time.
Severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) strand-specific assay can be used to identify active SARS-CoV-2 viral replication. We describe the characteristics of 337 hospitalized patients with at least 1 minus-strand SARS-CoV-2 assay performed >20 days after illness onset. This test is a novel tool to identify high-risk hospitalized patients with prolonged SARS-CoV-2 replication.
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