The Safety of Aztreonam Versus Ceftazidime in Patients Labeled With Penicillin Allergy: A Cohort Study.

Purpose: Penicillin allergy is the most common drug allergy among hospitalized patients. Traditionally, aztreonam is recommended for patients labeled with penicillin allergy (PLWPA) in our institutional empirical antibiotic guidelines. Due to a global aztreonam shortage in December 2022, the antimicrobial stewardship unit recommended ceftazidime as a substitute.

Stemming the Rise of Antibiotic Use for Community-Acquired Acute Respiratory Infections during COVID-19 Pandemic.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the use of antibiotics for the treatment of community-acquired respiratory tract infection (CA-ARI) in patients admitted for suspected or confirmed COVID-19, raising concerns for misuse. These antibiotics are not under the usual purview of the antimicrobial stewardship unit (ASU). Serum procalcitonin, a biomarker to distinguish viral from bacterial infections, can be used to guide antibiotic recommendations in suspected lower respiratory tract infection.

Cohort study to evaluate the effect of vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin B in combination on progression to severe outcomes in older patients with coronavirus (COVID-19).

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine clinical outcomes of older patients with coronavirus (COVID-19) who received a combination of vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin B (DMB) compared with those who did not. We hypothesized that fewer patients administered this combination would require oxygen therapy, intensive care support, or a combination of both than those who did not.

Methods: This was a cohort observational study of all consecutive hospitalized patients ≥50 y of age with COVID-19 in a tertiary academic hospital.

Antimicrobial stewardship programme: a vital resource for hospitals during the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Healthcare resources are being diverted for the containment and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). During this outbreak, it is cautioned that antibiotic misuse may be increased, especially for respiratory tract infections. With stewardship interventions, the duration of antibiotic therapy and length of stay of hospitalized patients can be reduced significantly.

Two linear epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that elicit neutralising antibodies in COVID-19 patients.

Given the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, identification of immunogenic targets against the coronavirus spike glycoprotein will provide crucial advances towards the development of sensitive diagnostic tools and potential vaccine candidate targets. In this study, using pools of overlapping linear B-cell peptides, we report two IgG immunodominant regions on SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein that are recognised by sera from COVID-19 convalescent patients. Notably, one is specific to SARS-CoV-2, which is located in close proximity to the receptor binding domain.

The use of intravesical cidofovir for the treatment of adenovirus-associated haemorrhagic cystitis in a kidney transplant recipient.

Adenovirus is an important cause of haemorrhagic cystitis in kidney transplant recipients. The optimal treatment for adenovirus-associated haemorrhagic cystitis (AAHC) is unknown. Intravenous cidofovir may be effective, but nephrotoxicity is a major concern.

The paradoxical evolution in an unusual case of disseminated tuberculosis: Spontaneous resolution with disease progression.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis can cause a myriad of clinical manifestations. We describe a case of a patient with end-stage renal failure, who presented with disseminated tuberculosis over the course of five months, manifesting with a self-resolving mediastinal mass, progressive lymphadenopathy, genitourinary, and musculoskeletal tuberculosis.