Improving antimicrobial stewardship with penicillin allergy testing: a review of current practices and unmet needs.

Penicillin allergy, the most frequently reported drug allergy, has been associated with suboptimal antibiotic therapy, increased antimicrobial resistance, increased rates of colonization and infection, as well as extended hospital length of stay and increased cost. Although up to 10% of all patients may report penicillin allergy, most penicillin allergies are not confirmed. As such, most patients with a penicillin allergy can still safely use penicillin and related drugs following a more precise assessment.

Novel strategies to diagnose prosthetic or native bone and joint infections.

Introduction: Bone and Joint Infections (BJI) are medically important, costly and occur in native and prosthetic joints. Arthroplasties will increase significantly in absolute numbers over time as well as the incidence of Prosthetic Joint Infections (PJI). Diagnosis of BJI and PJI is sub-optimal.

Diagnostic and medical needs for therapeutic drug monitoring of antibiotics.

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of antibiotics has been practiced for more than half a century, but it is still not widely applied for infected patients. It has a traditional focus on limiting toxicity of specific classes of antibiotics such as aminoglycosides and vancomycin. With more patients in critical care with higher levels of sickness severity and immunosuppression as well as an increasingly obese and ageing population, an increasing risk of suboptimal antibiotic exposure continues to escalate.

Antimicrobial consumption and resistance in adult hospital inpatients in 53 countries: results of an internet-based global point prevalence survey.

Background: The Global Point Prevalence Survey (Global-PPS) established an international network of hospitals to measure antimicrobial prescribing and resistance worldwide. We aimed to assess antimicrobial prescribing and resistance in hospital inpatients.

Methods: We used a standardised surveillance method to collect detailed data about antimicrobial prescribing and resistance from hospitals worldwide, which were grouped by UN region.