Antibiotics

There has been an increase in STDs seen in US emergency departments, a setting that proves to be less than optimal for providing STD care.

Today, May 5th, is Hand Hygiene Day, a day that reminds healthcare workers, visitors, and policy makers alike, that frequent handwashing can be used to fight the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, and ultimately, save millions of lives.

Lauri A. Hicks, DO, Director, Office of Antibiotic Stewardship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explains the importance of identifying gaps in antibiotic stewardship.

Lauri A. Hicks, Director, Office of Antibiotic Stewardship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discusses how more data is needed to provide dentists with better guidelines for prescribing antibiotics.

Emily Heil, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, explains why stewards should think outside of the box when coming up with interventions to include in an antimicrobial stewardship program.

Lauri A. Hicks, DO, Director, Office of Antibiotic Stewardship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discusses the potential consequences of prescribing unneeded antibiotics.

Emily Heil, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, shares an effective stewardship intervention for ruling out if someone is allergic to penicillin.

An outbreak of MRSA at a Los Angeles-area hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit has raised questions about when health officials were notified of the outbreak, and why the public was not informed sooner.

A new treatment for antibiotic-resistant bacteria may reduce effects of chronic infections, lessen the days spent in hospitals, and reduce the use of antibiotics.

Lauri A. Hicks, DO, Director, Office of Antibiotic Stewardship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discusses what we know about antibiotic prescribing habits among dentists.

A £150 million program funded by NHS England aimed to study how rapid point-of-care infection-testing for hospital patients could impact the number of antibiotics prescribed.

Madeline King, PharmD, assistant professor of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, discusses the significance of the findings of her research on Ceftazidime-Avibactam.

Researchers from McGill University, Montreal, have found that maple syrup extracts can enhance the effectiveness of certain antibiotics used against pathogenic bacteria.

Emily Heil, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and Contagion® Editorial Advisory Board Member, discusses how antibiotic allergies can affect stewardship.

A new study has found that young and middle-aged adults who were prescribed long-term antibiotics later had increased risk of colorectal adenoma, a suspected precursor to cancer.

Lilian Abbo, MD, chief, infection prevention & control and antibiotic stewardship, Jackson Health System, associate professor of clinical medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, explains the importance of rapid diagnostic testing.

Emily Heil, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and Contagion® Editorial Advisory Board Member, discusses some points to be mindful of when considering IV to PO conversions.

Belinda Ostrowsky, MD, MPH, Health Systems Director of Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Stewardship & Infection Prevention, Montefiore Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses limitations to C. difficile testing that could impact stewardship practices in healthcare facilities.

Top-line results of a phase 3 clinical study show that omadacycline met all US Food and Drug Administration primary and secondary endpoints and European Medicines Agency co-primary endpoints.

Lauri A. Hicks, DO, Director, Office of Antibiotic Stewardship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explains an area of debate in the general medical field regarding antibiotics.

Belinda Ostrowsky, MD, MPH, Health Systems Director of Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Stewardship & Infection Prevention, Montefiore Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, explains how to be more sensible when it comes to testing for Clostridium difficile.

Sara Cosgrove, MD, MS, current president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), painted a picture of the new landscape of antibiotic stewardship in the Opening Plenary of the 2017 SHEA Spring Conference held in St. Louis, Missouri.

Emily Heil, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, describes what the ideal antibiotic stewardship team would look like.

A multi-institution research team has found that daptomycin is effective and well-tolerated in children.

This week’s Public Health News Watch focuses on recent claims in the media that the budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration will have a negative impact on healthcare outcomes and patient safety.

A new study finds that patients with heart failure, obesity, are at increased risk of failing oral antibiotic therapy for skin and soft tissue infections.

A study suggests that heavy drinkers receiving treatment injections for their condition may be more susceptible to acquiring an antibiotic-resistant infection with Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens, which can be fatal.

On March 5, 2017, at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) in Atlanta, Georgia, researchers from Rush University presented findings on the efficacy of a new guideline, which aimed to detect whether self-reported beta-lactam allergies were, in essence, unpleasant side-effects to the drugs.

It has been reported that the new healthcare reform bill could eviscerate the US Department of Health and Human Service’s Prevention and Public Health Fund, which, among other things, funds roughly 12% of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s budget.

On March 5, 2017, at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), Gary Huang, MD, PhD, explained his research team's findings regarding self-reported allergy to drugs containing β-lactams.